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 within, departing, or arriving in the 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!

Frequently asked questions about BumpySkies

• If a forecast predicts turbulence, does that mean an unsafe flight?

  No, turbulence does not mean an unsafe flight. The unexpected motion of turbulence can be scary to experience, especially for nervous fliers, but it poses no threat at all to the aircraft. You are safe. For more information, see the Turbulence FAQ.

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

  BumpySkies supports domestic flights within the U.S., as well as international flights that either depart from or arrive at the U.S. It also has some support for domestic Canadian flights that happen entirely near the U.S. border.

  BumpySkies can't provide forecasts for most flights that take place entirely outside the United States. The flight data that we get from the FAA doesn't include flight plans that don't involve American airspace.

• 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.

About Nelly

Nelly is a groundhog who loves to travel, even though she doesn't like flying very much.

Like me—and maybe like you, too—she often feels nervous when up in the air, even though she knows how safe flying is. She also knows that turbulence is harmless, but it can still frighten her when it happens—especially when she doesn't expect it.

Nelly and I both use tools like BumpySkies to help us feel a little more informed and a little less anxious about our flights. Nelly also finds that wearing interbellum aviatrix fashion gives her extra confidence before she buckles into her seat. I'm not so much into that, myself. But we must each manage our fears in our own ways, and as you can see from her brave face, this is what works for her.

Our artwork of Nelly is drawn by Flynn Nichols.

Photo 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 © 2016-2026 by Jason McIntosh except where otherwise noted.