The Atmosphere Didn’t Get the Forecast: Madison Winds, Airline Turbulence, & Other Weather Surprises
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The atmosphere is chaotic, unpredictable, and frankly a little rude. I’m a professor and atmospheric scientist who studies exactly how it disrupts aviation, and as a student pilot, I’ve recently started experiencing its attitude firsthand.
For GA pilots, the trouble often starts close to the ground, where shifting winds can turn a routine landing into a very memorable one. Crosswind conditions are involved in about 18% of runway excursions — and if you’ve ever landed at Middleton on a breezy Wisconsin afternoon, you already know what that feels like from the left seat.
Go higher, and the hazards get sneakier, sometimes literally invisible. Clear-air turbulence leaves no cloud, no radar return, and no warning. Blue skies, smooth air, and then suddenly the seatbelt sign is the least of your problems. Turbulence is the leading cause of commercial aviation accidents, accounting for more than a third of all airline accidents between 2008 and 2022. U.S. pilots file over 65,000 reports of moderate-or-greater turbulence every year, with around 5,500 classified as severe.
In this talk, we’ll start right here in southern Wisconsin, looking at why our winds behave the way they do and why they can surprise even experienced pilots. Then we’ll look at two recent Delta Air Lines turbulence events near Wyoming and Atlanta to understand how clear-air and convective turbulence develop, why they’re so hard to forecast, and what researchers are learning from them.
Spoiler: the atmosphere is not impressed by any of us.
For GA pilots, the trouble often starts close to the ground, where shifting winds can turn a routine landing into a very memorable one. Crosswind conditions are involved in about 18% of runway excursions — and if you’ve ever landed at Middleton on a breezy Wisconsin afternoon, you already know what that feels like from the left seat.
Go higher, and the hazards get sneakier, sometimes literally invisible. Clear-air turbulence leaves no cloud, no radar return, and no warning. Blue skies, smooth air, and then suddenly the seatbelt sign is the least of your problems. Turbulence is the leading cause of commercial aviation accidents, accounting for more than a third of all airline accidents between 2008 and 2022. U.S. pilots file over 65,000 reports of moderate-or-greater turbulence every year, with around 5,500 classified as severe.
In this talk, we’ll start right here in southern Wisconsin, looking at why our winds behave the way they do and why they can surprise even experienced pilots. Then we’ll look at two recent Delta Air Lines turbulence events near Wyoming and Atlanta to understand how clear-air and convective turbulence develop, why they’re so hard to forecast, and what researchers are learning from them.
Spoiler: the atmosphere is not impressed by any of us.
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Where is it happening?
Morey Airplane Company, 8300 Airport Rd,Middleton, Wisconsin, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherWomen in Aviation - Four Lakes Chapter
