When we talk about travel apps, we typically talk about the types of tools that help you organize your itineraries, find worthwhile stops along your way, or maybe even just find flights (and/or fuel!) in the first place.
Those types of tools are important—but there’s another travel resource I recently ran into that might be even more invaluable.
It’s a free website that gives you unprecedented insight into exactly how much turbulence you can expect on any given flight, before you take off—as well as what the wind and overall weather conditions may mean for your odds of an on-time (or, if you’re lucky, maybe even early) arrival.
Trust me: This is one you’ll absolutely want to pack away for the future.
This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!
Your helpful eye on the sky
The next time you’re about to fly the not-so-friendly skies, take a moment to pull up a website called Turbli before you take off.
➜ Turbli is a free site that shows you exactly how much turbulence you’re likely to encounter on different parts of any specific flight you’re taking. (It’s also an incredibly fun name to say, as an extra little bonus. Seriously—try it out loud: Turbli. Turbli. Turbli!)
Turbli relies on the same data sources that actual airline pilots use—from advanced weather models provided by places like the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.K. Met Office.
It instantly analyzes all that info and spits back a plain-English summary and simple illustration showing you what to expect. Particularly with plane turbulence growing more frequent and severe as of late, having that knowledge ahead of time can make a meaningful difference in your flight experience.
⌚ It couldn’t be much easier to use, either. We’re talkin’ roughly 20 seconds of time for any flight lookup.
✅ All you do is pull up the Turbli website in any browser, on any device you’re using—then put your departure and arrival city into the box on the center of the screen and tell it if you’re leaving today or tomorrow.
Turbli will then show you a list of specific flights scheduled for the path and date you selected.
Once you’ve selected your flight, you’ll see your turbulence forecast along with other relevant weather-related info.
Odds are, that’ll tell you everything you need to know. But if you want to dive in deeper, note the little “Maps” option at the top-right of those boxes.
Clicking or tapping that will take you to a live, interactive map that’ll give you even more visuals into your upcoming flight conditions.
Turbli has a detailed FAQ page that explains all of its forecasts, including exactly what different types of turbulence are likely to feel like in practice. (Long story short: Light turbulence is nothing, moderate makes for a bumpy flight, moderate/severe is gonna give you that roller coaster feeling but still be no actual cause for concern, and severe is likely to be quite intense but still perfectly safe as far as what modern aircrafts are designed to handle.)
Turbli does require an active internet connection to operate, as you’d expect—but other than that, there’s not much to it in terms of planning. Just pull up the site, put in your flight info, and start your next flying journey with full knowledge of what’s ahead and no sudden surprises.
- Turbli is entirely web-based, so it’ll work in any browser and on any device you’re using—no downloads required.
- It’s completely free and the passion project of a single weather-obsessed engineer. The site does accept donations, and its creator also sells a related book—but you never have to pay anything or make any purchases to use it.
- The site doesn’t require any sign-ins or request any manner of personal info.
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