Think of flying through the air like skimming on the sea. Now and again you’ll hit some waves. Sometimes you hit a big wave but just pass up over it and then ‘fall’ a little until you’re back on the water. The only thing with air is that it’s essentially invisible so you can’t always anticipate exactly where the waves are.

When I’m on a plane I have this concept in my mind during turbulence and imagine we’re just all surfing on an invisible sea. Great fun!

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Yeah that makes sense- are these currents continuous in the sense that if we fly over that section again it would happen also? Or are the wind pockets outliers from differential temperatures / winds?

Just like the sea, the waves are not static. We can anticipate where turbulence is likely to happen knowing air currents as we do. Plus being in the path of previous aircraft can also cause turbulence and this is again something we can anticipate, just not know exactly when these pockets of disturbed air are while flying through those zones.

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What you describe is very similar to wake turbulence in cruise. Aeroplanes criss cross paths all the time, with the required separation, but it takes time for these vortexes to lose their kinetic energy. And since they are, well, swirly, they can also travel around. So you might hit one without even seeing the aeroplane that made it.

Pilots report to air traffic control where they experience turbulence so that air traffic control can warn pilots heading into that area

Consider walking along and getting hit by a gust of air. It last for a couple of seconds and might make you adjust your balance, hesitate your next step, etc.

Now think about driving your car down the freeway at 60 when you're hit by the same gust of air. It lasts for a much shorter time, and you have to very briefly compensate your steering, but only a tiny bit.

Now imagine your car is a hundred times bigger and travelling at 500 mph when it the same gust hits. The duration will be so short that it doesn't even register, but the force all across the plane is proportional, so it just feels like a big thump, a speed bump.

Sort of the same principle as speed bumps themselves when you think about it. The whole point is to make you slow down and stretch out the time that speed bump is interacting you. The faster you go and the harsher you feel.