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Route turbulence forecast
Turbulence forecast for flights from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Auckland International Airport (AKL).
Get a segment-by-segment turbulence forecast for any scheduled flight from LHR to AKL, with live wind and pilot reports.
Live status with real-time delays and cancellations.
Northbound · Great-circle bearing 15°
The route crosses mid-latitudes where the polar jet can influence flight conditions, though exposure is shorter than on genuine long-haul crossings. At tropical latitudes, convective turbulence from thunderstorms is the main driver — pilots generally route around storm cells, but afternoon/evening flights encounter more build-up than morning departures. A large portion of the flight crosses open ocean (North Pacific), where upper-level conditions are generally smoother than over continental terrain.
Transpacific routes are most turbulent in winter months when the polar jet is strong and positioned further south.
Most of the 18,364 km route sits in the mixed band with moderate jet-stream exposure. Historically that means occasional clear-air turbulence at cruise altitude is normal, especially in winter.
Statistically, Late spring and early autumn sees the calmest conditions for this corridor. Within any season, morning departures see less convective (thunderstorm-driven) turbulence than afternoon flights.
Block time is usually around 21h 51m direct, cruising at approximately FL410 (41,000 ft). Actual duration varies with winds — tailwinds can shave 15–30 minutes, headwinds can add 30+ minutes on this northbound sector.
We use live NOAA Aviation Weather Center pilot reports (PIREPs), SIGMETs and AIRMETs, layered with physics-based Ellrod and Richardson-number calculations from Open-Meteo pressure-level wind and temperature data. If a source is unavailable for a waypoint we show an em dash rather than invent a value.
Articles
Articles that unpack the factors driving turbulence on this type of route.
Winter over the Atlantic, monsoon over Asia, summer over the US — turbulence has a calendar. Here's the month-by-month pattern for every major flight corridor, and the best months to book a smoother flight.
Read moreA pilot's guide to the four turbulence intensity categories, the EDR scale that underlies them, and what each level actually feels like in the cabin — with concrete examples.
Read moreShort answer: almost certainly not. Here's the full engineering, historical, and statistical picture of how modern aircraft handle turbulence — including what the Singapore Airlines SQ321 incident really tells us.
Read more