Climate Change Might Worsen Nauseating Airplane Turbulence

Folks sickened by the Trump administration’s dismantling of U.S. climate policy might want to get used to the feeling. As the world continues to warm, airlines likely will experience a drastic rise in turbulence—not just the kind that has you reaching for the barf bag, but the type that can send passengers to the hospital for bruising injuries, says Paul Williams at the U.K.’s University of Reading.

Fliers of the future can expect as much as three times the frequency of in-air jerkiness “strong enough to catapult unbuckled passengers and crew around the aircraft cabin,” according to Williams’ new research. Aside from the jump in the most powerful clear-air turbulence that makes airplanes rise and drop like tubular yo-yos, Williams’s study anticipates a 75 percent surge in light-to-moderate turbulence and a 127 percent rise in moderate-to-severe turbulence.