How long is this turbulence in SoCal going to last?

MetalCloud

MetalCloud

Line Up and Wait
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MetalCloud
Crazy turbulence around SoCal lately. How long will this keep up?
 
Through Friday, April 28.

It can be very localized.

Sothern California covers a lot of ground.
 
Vance Breese said:
Through Friday, April 28.

It can be very localized.

Sothern California covers a lot of ground.
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Cool. And yes it does. :)

Heading down to SAN on Friday night and was just doing some initial planning.
 
After El Nino collapsed (the drought) the so-called Atmospheric River setup aiming straight at CA and points East. Record snow and rain. And a long winter are resulting. You will not see much of a spring or summer in CA that does not have continued winds, turbulence and small rains until next winter. Then next winter will also be record levels.
 
All my flying here has been fairly bumpy. Back on the east coast it was generally smooth most of the time. But around here I've kind of gotten used to the fact you'll get bumped around a bit. When I bring new people up I'll generally do the typical coastal flight up and down the coast, it's pretty and dramatically smoother over the water. If we do go over the desert I'll give some warning and aim to clear the mountains and valleys atleast 2,000 AGL. Having said that the Julian VOR and the Banning Pass can give you a couple good punches
 
Vance Breese said:
Through Friday, April 28.

It can be very localized.

Sothern California covers a lot of ground.
Click to expand...
The only time I have been more than "concerned" as a passenger in an ailiner was once leaving SAN to go back East when the Santa Ana's were blowing.

The departure went maybe 5 min to the west to get some altitude before going over the mountains. Didn't help much...
 
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Been flying a lot through Palmdale / PSP area and have definitely felt my share of bumps lately. Flying with PAX this weekend so just want to be aware of expectations.
 
Are you looking at Airmets, Pireps, or actually in bumps?

I often fly dow to So Cal all the time with active Airmets and the flight is smooth as silk. Most of my worst bumps have been outside Airmets down there and I never give them a second thought now! Route for me is more dictated by wind speeds and direction over the passes.

Low level wind shear is my bigger concern.
 
Shawn said:
Are you looking at Airmets, Pireps, or actually in bumps?

I often fly dow to So Cal all the time with active Airmets and the flight is smooth as silk. Most of my worst bumps have been outside Airmets down there and I never give them a second thought now! Route for me is more dictated by wind speeds and direction over the passes.

Low level wind shear is my bigger concern.
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Yeah, the Airmets can be misleading and like you said don't always mean a bumpy flight. I usually look at PIREPs. And agreed on the LLWS. Have experienced that a couple times and it's interesting to say the least.
 
What's your intended route? Over mountains or along coast?
 
Just flew back today, over Newhall Pass.

NO turbulence. Nada.

But there was some modest mountain wave activity, and standing lenticular clouds east of GMN VOR. Smooth as a baby's butt, though. Just 500 FPM up and downdrafts alternating every few minutes.

And ridiculous headwinds. I could barely keep 50 knots ground speed in a 177RG at 10500, at one point.

It took me 3.5 hours to fly LGB to RHV. 2.5 was expected. Landed with 13.5 gal after shooting the LPV in actual. I require 1 hour (10 gal in that plane). I was keeping a close eye on that.
 
MAKG1 said:
I could barely keep 50 knots ground speed in a 177RG at 10500
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Those are the worst... when I see the GS dip below 65 I start to get seriously depressed

Other than the high peaks near GMN VOR any reason you were up so high? I usually get better luck with headwinds lower down
 
Tantalum said:
Those are the worst... when I see the GS dip below 65 I start to get seriously depressed

Other than the high peaks near GMN VOR any reason you were up so high? I usually get better luck with headwinds lower down
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Flying over standing lenticular clouds, and riding the wave. I don't like to do that down low.

And staying above upwind peaks is real important when the wind blows that strong. You can easily get severe in their wakes. They are over 8000.

I descended to 6500 after clearing Grapevine. Then gave a PIREP to Bakersfield Approach. They wanted to know how the ride was.
 
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