Are plane rides getting bumpier?

How climate change might be making turbulence worse

Airplanes.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Gettyimages)

Over the past few months, several airplane passengers have been injured due to significant in-flight turbulence. A passenger on a business jet was killed when the plane encountered "severe turbulence" while traveling from New Hampshire to Virginia. In a similar incident, seven passengers on a commercial Lufthansa flight were hospitalized after running into "clear-air turbulence." In December, 36 people were injured during turbulence on a Hawaiian Airlines flight. "These kinds of incidents might be getting more common" as the climate changes, CBS News reported.

How does climate change affect turbulence?

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Theara Coleman, The Week US

Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.