BumpySkies is a free online service that aims to demystify flight for all commercial air passengers.

BumpySkies uses current weather and flight data to forecast periods of turbulence along the path of major-carrier flights to, from, or within the continental United States. It operates under the notion that expecting these bumpy patches will make encountering them less surprising and scary for nervous fliers.

I plan to add more features to make flights even more transparent—and therefore pleasant—for all passengers. You can stay informed about BumpySkies‘ developments by subscribing to the BumpySkies newsletter.

How BumpySkies works

BumpySkies gets all its weather data from NOAA, and all its flight data from FAA. When you ask BumpySkies about an upcoming flight, it looks up how the plane‘s planned path corresponds with forecasted atmospheric turbulence, and then presents the results to you as both an image and text.

BumpySkies only looks at the next few hours of weather data, and knows about a flight‘s planned route only when its pilots file their plan with the FAA. Therefore, it works best to check shortly before boarding. In flights that offer on-board WiFi, you can check while in the air, too!

FAQ: Turbulence, safety, and managing fear

• My flight’s got a lot of turbulence forecasted. Am I in danger?

  You are perfectly safe. Turbulence during air travel can be uncomfortable and even scary to passengers, but it poses no danger at all to the safety of a flight. Aircraft today are designed to withstand forces much greater than what air turbulence can produce; no commercial airliner in modern history has ever crashed due to turbulence.

  Most turbulence bumps the plane around by a distance of inches or less. Your inner ear might quite reasonably express alarm at the sensation of your body unexpectedly shifting around like that, especially when smooth jet travel carries the illusion that you’re sitting perfectly still. However, these shifts have zero effect on the safety or operation of the plane that you’re on.

  In very rare cases, severe turbulence can suddenly shift the plane by several feet. While this still poses no danger to the aircraft, it can injure passengers by tossing unsecured objects and people around the cabin for a few seconds. Pilots do everything they can to avoid encounters with severe turbulence, but sometimes it happens anyway. This is why everyone on board needs to keep those seatbelts fastened and their bags properly stowed, just like the flight attendants never tire of telling you.

  On your next flight, you probably will encounter ordinary, “bumpy” turbulence. You probably won’t encounter severe turbulence—but if you do, your seat belt will keep you safe. And no matter what, you definitely won’t encounter turbulence that endangers the flight, because such a thing simply doesn't exist.

• If turbulence is so safe, then why does this forecasting tool exist?

  I created BumpySkies because I believe that, for many nervous fliers, expecting turbulence—including its intensity and duration—makes actually encountering it less surprising and scary.

  Think of it not so much a planning tool as a surprise-management device.

• I‘m going on a flight soon and I feel scared. Can you help?

  It‘s both common and natural to feel scared or nervous about an upcoming plane trip. BumpySkies was created by a nervous flier, just like you, as a tool that can help you find your own way towards managing your fear.

  Here are some other resources that have helped me manage my own fear of flying, and which I frequently recommend:

  • A free online course by Captain Stacey Chance can help you gain new perspective on how flight works, and why it‘s so safe.

  • Patrick Smith‘s book Cockpit Confidential offers a caring pilot‘s advice to wary passengers.

  • Aircraft-tracking sites like FlightAware and Flightradar24 let you see how many commercial flights are zipping around the globe right now, with dozens taking off and landing even while you‘re reading this, all without incident.

  Tools like these can help you realize that during your flight, you‘ll be part of a temporary but real community with hundreds of thousands of other people all over the world: those who are all up in the air together, on your way to far-away places. Many of them are nervous, too! But none of you are alone.

FAQ: BumpySkies itself

• Can BumpySkies work for areas outside of the continental United States?

  BumpySkies currently has limited international reach, supporting flights between the continental U.S., southern Canada, and northern Mexico. You can also get partial forecasts for overseas flights on U.S.-based airlines.

  I certainly would like BumpySkies to support a much wider international range, and hope that I can add this feature in the future. Subscribe to the free newsletter for updates about new BumpySkies features.

• Who pays for this?

  The United States government runs both of the organizations that publish the data BumpySkies uses (NOAA and FAA). This turns BumpySkies—and you, its users—into a passive beneficiary of American tax dollars, so there‘s that.

  The costs of development and hosting and such are otherwise paid for by this service‘s creator and maintainer. If you’d like to help out with that, see the next section!

• How can I help BumpySkies?

  First of all, if you like it, tell your friends about it! The more people use the service and offer me feedback about it, the better it gets.

  If you value the BumpySkies service and can afford to spare a few dollars to help cover its hosting costs and support its ongoing maintenance, please visit the project’s Patreon page, with my sincere gratitude.

  If you are an American citizen, you can help support the science and services that BumpySkies relies on by letting your elected representatives know that you support federally funded climate science. You may also wish to donate, if you can, to charitable organizations such as the Union of Concerned Scientists who help support and legally defend climate science.

• Who created this?

  BumpySkies was created and is maintained by me, Jason McIntosh. I love to visit new, far-away places, but I don't always love the act of getting there by plane, even though it‘s often the only sensible route. I created BumpySkies to make this necessary discomfort more tolerable and less weird and frightening. I hope that other people find value in it as well.

Image credits

BumpySkies uses the followng third-party images:

• "Blue Sky with Clouds Wallpaper" by Alex Panoiu is licensed under CC BY 2.0 .

• "Businessman Airport Waiting at London Heathrow Airport (LHR)" by xurde is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 .

• "MSY Airport monitors, March 2009" by Derek Bridges is licensed under CC BY 2.0 .

Copyright

All site content copyright © 2016-2025 by Jason McIntosh except where otherwise noted.