BNA-TPA and back

[bologna]

I was expecting a fair amount of turbulence when we left for Tampa last Saturday as there were severe storms (one of which caused a tornado in downtown Atlanta), but after take-off, we were in clouds for about 5 seconds and were in smooth, blue skies the rest of the way. There were also storms on the way back, but it was a bit bumpy for most of take-off. Once we reached cruising altitude, it was smoothed out with only a few bumps here and there. But, for some reason, the seat belt light never turned off.

So, from this, two questions:
What makes some storms bumpy, and others not?
What makes the pilot keep the seat belt sign on even if there isn't any turbulence? Did he just forget to turn it off, or is it just to keep the passengers out of the flight attendants' hair during beverage service?

[express-flight]

I am not an expert but I do think pilots tend to keep the seat belt sign on if they even think there is going to be some turbulence. Better to keep it on and the passengers in the seat then to have it off, have someone hit the ceiling and sue the airline. Sad as it is...

[tb_neg]

1) Proximity and strength have a lot to do with it.
2) Some pilots will leave it on for that reason, but they might have expected turbulence too. If storms were in the area it could have been bumpy.

Did not realize this was an old thread.




So, from this, two questions:
What makes some storms bumpy, and others not?
What makes the pilot keep the seat belt sign on even if there isn't any turbulence? Did he just forget to turn it off, or is it just to keep the passengers out of the flight attendants' hair during beverage service?