I think you are reading too much into the press article.
It didn't say there was no bad weather it said they tried to plot a smooth path through. (they failed)
So we did have turbulence. At the moment the puzzle still indicates an aircraft flying where it probably shouldn't have (still need to know why).
The rest is unfortunately the normal consequences to be expected when you hit the type of weather reported in that area. You know, the weather the others avoided. There is no need to make this unnecessarily complicated just because the truth is uncomfortable.
And please do not take that as blaming the crew. It is just a statement that we need to know why they didn't properly avoid that storm. There may reasons other than wrong call.