Nighttime, low-level jet streams are marked by a rapid change in wind speed with height. The sudden shift in wind can catch late-night fliers by surprise and be hazardous to landing aircraft. And low-level jet streams can form other hazards for pilots. When strong winds blow across a body water waves form. The atmosphere reacts in a similar manner forming waves of air on the edges of the inversion layer called turbulence.
Pilots try to avoid flying into air turbulence because at the very least it causes a bumpy ride.
Turbulence can become quite severe and some aircraft have been damaged by turbulence. On the central Plains of the USA, the nighttime, low-level jet stream also feeds developing thunderstorms with warm, moist air. Large, nocturnal thunderstorm clusters called Mesoscale Convective Complexes, or MCCs, can span areas as large as whole states, blocking flight paths with torrential downpours, deadly lightning, damaging winds and even tornadoes. The light of day brings an end to the nighttime, low-level jet. Once the sun's warmth returns to heat the land, the lower atmosphere begins to mix as the warm air rises.