Originally Posted by
clubord
Feel free to continue laughing to yourself but I assure you the FA’s are well aware of the differences in turbulence strength. Understand they are just relaying the information that was told to them by the pilots prior to departure or what is anticipated by updates from dispatch/other aircraft enroute related to them by the flight deck.
We give a detailed crew briefings to the FA’s about all pertinent items related to the flight prior to departure. One of the items we touch on is expected weather and the possibility of turbulence. We conduct this briefing using the weather tools we have available and the forecasted turbulence based on the information presented in our weather package from our destination.
Obviously weather and turbulence patterns are constantly changing. We have to use weather products that are trying to predict 2, 4, 8, 16+ hours in advance, sometimes it just isn’t exactly correct.
The other day I was on a 757 flight that had continuous moderate turbulence for about 15 minutes. (I know the definitions because I'm an aviation meteorologist and have used/taught the official definitions from the FAA and American Meteorological Society). An FA got on the PA and reminded the pax to stay seated because, "We are experiencing SEVERE turbulence." Trust me -- it wasn't severe -- everyone would have known it if it was!