Thanks "mstram" for the very enlightening (and relieving) mention of how badly the winds/weather is programmed in the AI in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004!
I don't have 2004, but they probably haven't changed much since 2000,2002.
I've flown in some fairly gusty weather, but the MS sim seems to model the wind gusts as the wind completely stopping then instantly starting, which I've never seen in real life flying. There
are wind gradient's and wind shears in real world flying, or at least so I've read about <g>, but those are uncommon, and usually associated with thunderstorms, microbursts or drastic terrain changes, i.e. in the mountans. In the "flatland" flying I've done, even when the wind is gusting, it doesn't completely stop, then instantly start like in MS. You might try turning on the wind but without any gusts to see if it gives a steadier effect.
Mike