Narrative:

During climb after departing ZZZ; we were in the process of circumnavigating some small cells of precip when we encountered momentary severe turbulence. We were operating in IMC and I had just initiated a left turn to avoid a small area of moderate precip depicted on the radar display when we were struck by an extremely strong and abrupt series of updrafts and downdrafts. The autopilot disconnected and I struggled to reach the thrust levers and yoke; as the turbulence was bad enough that I was having difficulty reaching and operating the controls. Fortunately the turbulence abated after a few seconds; and I was able to regain control and return to our normal pitch attitude and continue climbing and turning. I can't be certain how much altitude we gained or lost; since during the encounter I was more concerned with retarding the thrust; and I really couldn't read the display for a few seconds anyway. Once it was apparent that we had cleared the disturbance; I asked the non-flying pilot to call the flight attendant (I was still hesitant to remove my hands from the controls) to inquire as to whether or not she had sustained any injury. Fortunately; she had been able to hold on to something and was therefore uninjured. None of the passengers had been injured either. At this point; we also reported the encounter to ATC. The first officer and I then discussed what course of action we should take; and we both agreed that since there was no evidence of any structural damage; and no injuries; that a diversion was not necessary; and we elected to continue to our destination (we were only about 30 minutes away anyway). Once we arrived; we decided that out of an abundance of caution that it would be prudent to report the incident to maintenance; just to be certain that the airplane had not been damaged in any way.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145LR Captain reported momentary loss of control after encountering 'extremely strong' turbulence.

Narrative: During climb after departing ZZZ; we were in the process of circumnavigating some small cells of precip when we encountered momentary severe turbulence. We were operating in IMC and I had just initiated a left turn to avoid a small area of moderate precip depicted on the radar display when we were struck by an extremely strong and abrupt series of updrafts and downdrafts. The autopilot disconnected and I struggled to reach the thrust levers and yoke; as the turbulence was bad enough that I was having difficulty reaching and operating the controls. Fortunately the turbulence abated after a few seconds; and I was able to regain control and return to our normal pitch attitude and continue climbing and turning. I can't be certain how much altitude we gained or lost; since during the encounter I was more concerned with retarding the thrust; and I really couldn't read the display for a few seconds anyway. Once it was apparent that we had cleared the disturbance; I asked the non-flying pilot to call the flight attendant (I was still hesitant to remove my hands from the controls) to inquire as to whether or not she had sustained any injury. Fortunately; she had been able to hold on to something and was therefore uninjured. None of the passengers had been injured either. At this point; we also reported the encounter to ATC. The First Officer and I then discussed what course of action we should take; and we both agreed that since there was no evidence of any structural damage; and no injuries; that a diversion was not necessary; and we elected to continue to our destination (we were only about 30 minutes away anyway). Once we arrived; we decided that out of an abundance of caution that it would be prudent to report the incident to maintenance; just to be certain that the airplane had not been damaged in any way.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.