Turbulence. That terrifying feeling of the plane bumping along and sometimes taking stomach-dropping plunges, making the overhead compartments rattle and nervous flyers grip their armrest. Along with people fully reclining in front of you and folks trying to sneak in before their boarding number is called, this is one of the most hated aspects of flying, according to a study I just did by consulting myself. If only there was a way to know which flight routes are the most turbulent so you could avoid them… wait, there is! Turbulence forecast site Turbli.com has looked at data from about 10,000 worldwide routes, connecting out of 550 airports, to rank them in terms of most turbulent.
The figures below represent the average eddy dissipation rate. Anything from 0 to 20 is considered light, anything from 20 to 40 is moderate, from 40 to 60 is strong, from 60 to 80 is severe, and above that is extreme.
The great news is that no route goes above the light category in the U.S. You’ll see many of the same cities listed. Salt Lake City (appearing five times), Denver (four times), and Jackson, Bozeman, and Las Vegas (each appearing two times) seem to be part of some of the more turbulent routes. Don’t avoid them; just make sure you have some anti-nausea or anti-anxiety meds on board first.
The top 10 most turbulent routes in the U.S.:
1. Albuquerque (ABQ) - Denver (DEN): 17.751
2. Denver (DEN) - Jackson (JAC): 17.454
3. Jackson (JAC) - Salt Lake City (SLC): 17.419
4. Denver (DEN) - Salt Lake City (SLC): 16.948
5. Bozeman (BZN) - Denver (DEN): 16.688
6. Ontario (ONT) – San Diego (SAN): 16.439
7. Boise (BOI) - Salt Lake City (SLC): 16.305
8. Bozeman (BZN) - Salt Lake City (SLC): 16.252
9. Las Vegas (LAS) - Reno (RNO): 16.068
10. Las Vegas (LAS) – Salt Lake City (SLC): 15.875