What type of clouds are the most turbulent?

No one mentioned rotor clounds. They hang out on the downwind side of the mountain and are usually bundles of fun.
 
Going along with the Lenticular clouds being dangerous, so are those cumulo-granite clouds. I hear they are very dangerous in Colorado. You get caught in one of those, you are a pile of debris.
 
If we are just arguing between which is worse altogether for turbulence, because both will produce a rough ride, I would say the CB cloud wins hands down in terms of shear evil over the towering cumulus. (Get it?. . ."Shear" evil. . . OK, OK that was really dumb.)

As far as lenticular clouds go, if you are actually in one, you would more likely experience up and down drafts. It is the rotors below and downstream of the lenticular that are going to give you the really bad turbulence. Discovered that one the hard way a number of years ago in a single engine Commander over Park City. Thank heavens for turbochargers and the climb rates that go with them.
 
Lee D said:
If we are just arguing between which is worse altogether for turbulence, because both will produce a rough ride, I would say the CB cloud wins hands down in terms of shear evil over the towering cumulus. (Get it?. . ."Shear" evil. . . OK, OK that was really dumb.)

As far as lenticular clouds go, if you are actually in one, you would more likely experience up and down drafts. It is the rotors below and downstream of the lenticular that are going to give you the really bad turbulence. Discovered that one the hard way a number of years ago in a single engine Commander over Park City. Thank heavens for turbochargers and the climb rates that go with them.
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PC is a bad area to go in a single on windy days, One instructor I had (the same one that confused the hell out of me about "Towering Cumulonimbus") took me over there from 36U one afternoon to do slow flight in a Katana. Bad idea to say the least, we were lucky. That was one of the reasons I dropped that guy.
 
Your instructor could be refering to an FAA written exam question, can't remember which test, that asked which cloud was associated with severe turbulence. The answer was the standing lenticular.

Another way to think about it is that the lenticular and rotor don't actually casue the turbulence. They are merely a byproduct of the mtn wave phenomenon. On a very dry day the mtn wave, rotors & turbulence can be happening, but the lenticulars won't be around. Whereas with Cumulonimus, towering cumulus clouds etc. they are the actual cause of the turbulence.
 
What about the bubbly ones; the ones that look like boobies on the underside of the overcast? They're even called something similar to boobies...Mammatus
Mammatus-Clouds2.jpg
 
Lee D said:
Your instructor could be refering to an FAA written exam question, can't remember which test, that asked which cloud was associated with severe turbulence. The answer was the standing lenticular.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and it's on like 5 or 6 writtens so just memorize that. Ergo my post way early in this thread.
 
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