When air flows are blocked by obstructions, such as buildings, trees, mountain ranges, or in this case, a mountainous island, all sorts of interesting effects can occur. Just as flowing water hitting a rock will form swirling eddies, flowing air has the same tendency, which you can plainly see int he image above. We’re usually not able to see these effects so vividly, though you’ll often feel them in the form of turbulence.

From the Facebook page of the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center:

One of the lead forecasters at WPC was taking a look at the visible satellite imagery in the Pacific near the Baja California Peninsula and noticed some swirly action. If you take a look, there’s several swirls being caused by a volcanic island called Isla de Guadalupe. There’s also one right next to the coastline. How many can you count!?

We have satellite and radar imagery on our webpage alongside the surface analysis–if you want to take a look, visit our website (www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov) and take a look under the current weather!