The most turbulent flight routes in the US
On Billings–Denver, the bumpiest domestic route in the United States, 40% of the flight time was in bumpy air. A typical US route: 24%. The jet stream explains almost all of the top 20: where it comes ashore over the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, where it leaves over the Northeast, and over the Rockies.
The 20 most turbulent routes in the United States
Yellow is the share of the flight in light-or-worse bumpy air, orange the part that was moderate or worse. Tap a route for its live forecast.
- 1 Billings – Denver BIL · DEN · 733 km 40%17% moderate
- 2 Juneau – Ketchikan JNU · KTN · 376 km 38%19% moderate
- 3 Juneau – Seattle JNU · SEA · 1,461 km 37%16% moderate
- 4 Anchorage – Juneau ANC · JNU · 916 km 37%17% moderate
- 5 Ketchikan – Seattle KTN · SEA · 1,093 km 35%15% moderate
- 6 Portland – Sacramento PDX · SMF · 771 km 35%16% moderate
- 7 Seattle – Sacramento SEA · SMF · 975 km 34%15% moderate
- 8 Fairbanks – Seattle FAI · SEA · 2,462 km 34%15% moderate
- 9 Oakland – Seattle OAK · SEA · 1,082 km 34%14% moderate
- 10 Seattle – San Francisco SEA · SFO · 1,093 km 34%14% moderate
- 11 Burlington – Philadelphia BTV · PHL · 540 km 33%12% moderate
- 12 Burlington – Newark BTV · EWR · 429 km 33%11% moderate
- 13 Albany – Atlanta ALB · ATL · 1,372 km 33%12% moderate
- 14 Burlington – New York LaGuardia BTV · LGA · 415 km 33%11% moderate
- 15 Oakland – Portland OAK · PDX · 876 km 33%14% moderate
- 16 Burlington – New York JFK BTV · JFK · 429 km 32%11% moderate
- 17 Fresno – Seattle FAT · SEA · 1,206 km 32%13% moderate
- 18 Eugene – Los Angeles EUG · LAX · 1,205 km 32%14% moderate
- 19 Bozeman – Denver BZN · DEN · 843 km 32%12% moderate
- 20 Seattle – San Jose SEA · SJC · 1,122 km 32%14% moderate
The Pacific jet stream, the Rockies, and summer storms
Most of the top 10 is the West Coast and Alaska: Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, the Bay Area, Juneau and Ketchikan. That is where the Pacific jet stream comes ashore, strongest in winter, and short routes along the coast spend much of their time in the wind shear at its edge. The Northeast is the same jet leaving the continent, which is why Burlington, Albany and the New York airports appear too.
Billings to Denver, first in the US, and Bozeman to Denver run along the Rockies under the same jet. Most of their bumps are its wind shear; about a third, on Billings–Denver, are mountain waves: when strong westerly wind crosses the ranges, the air rises over the peaks, falls on the far side and keeps oscillating for hundreds of kilometres downwind, up to cruise height.
East of the Rockies and across the South, the summer story is thunderstorms: they build over land in the afternoon, crews route around them, and the air around a storm is bumpy even where the cloud is not.
When in the day US routes are smoothest
By local departure time, averaged over every ranked US route.
The smoothest routes in the United States
Mostly Florida and Hawaii, far south of the jet stream, and the far north of Alaska.
- 1 Key West – Miami EYW · MIA · 202 km 4%1% moderate
- 2 Key West – Tampa EYW · TPA · 388 km 5%1% moderate
- 3 Honolulu – Lihue, Kauai HNL · LIH · 163 km 5%1% moderate
- 4 Miami – Tampa MIA · TPA · 329 km 6%1% moderate
- 5 Lihue, Kauai – Kahului LIH · OGG · 324 km 6%1% moderate
- 6 Orlando – Miami MCO · MIA · 310 km 7%2% moderate
- 7 Honolulu – Kahului HNL · OGG · 162 km 7%2% moderate
- 8 Honolulu – Kailua-Kona HNL · KOA · 263 km 7%2% moderate
- 9 Orlando – Fort Myers MCO · RSW · 215 km 7%2% moderate
- 10 Utqiaġvik – Deadhorse BRW · SCC · 327 km 8%2% moderate
US turbulence questions
What is the most turbulent flight route in the US?
Billings–Denver, with 40% of the flight time in light-or-worse bumpy air across every snapshot in the report.
Why is Denver so turbulent?
It sits at 5,430 ft right against the Front Range, so departures and arrivals happen in air that the mountains are already disturbing. Its routes west and north across the Rockies, like Billings and Bozeman, are among the bumpiest in the US; wind over the ranges makes mountain waves, strongest in winter. Its many routes east over the plains are much calmer.
What time of day is smoothest to fly in the US?
Early in the day, on most routes: the ground has not heated up yet, so there are no thermals and the summer storms have not built. The time-of-day chart above shows it for every ranked US route.
Is turbulence worse in winter or summer in the US?
Both, for different reasons. Winter brings the strongest jet stream and the strongest mountain waves; summer brings thunderstorms. Over the Rockies winter is worse; in the South and East summer afternoons are.
A ranking is the average. Your flight is one day.
FlyBud forecasts the turbulence along your actual route, at your actual time, and updates it as new weather comes in.