This is a GOES visible satellite image depicting a vortex pattern in the clouds downwind of Guadalupe Island (located off the west coast of Baja California). The highest hill on the island is about 1.3 km (4265 ft), which influenced the northwesterly wind flow to create a beautiful vortex pattern in the stratoculumus cloud deck. Click on the image to see a QuickTime animation of the individual vortex features — note that some vortex circulations are cyclonic (counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere), while others are anticyclonic.
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