one mans severe turbulence is another mans medium turbulence
I only ever experienced severe turbulence once and that was coming out of Nice on a Northerly Sid in a empty corporate jet.
On the approach into Nice we were warned of severe turbulence between FL200 and FL300
I felt an idiot warning the Pax of a rough ride ahead, getting them strapped in and reducing the speed right back to find smooth air all the way to the ground
" Where was all that turbulence" Was the owners reply looking at me as if I was some sort of paranoiac idiot.
We left the PAX there and took the jet back empty. In the climb passing FL200 all hell let loose,with cupboards flying open all the contents being hurled from one end of the cabin to the other.
Autopilot disconnected wing drops were 45 degrees with the aircraft tossed around like a puppet and almost uncontrollable.
The VSI normally showing 1000 fpm at that level was showing a solid 2500 fpm all the way to FL300 where the air went silky smooth
The usual is PIREPS but even those cannot show you isolated patches of very severe air only giving a picture of what lies ahead