Home
Weather London
WeatherRadar
RainfallRadar
TemperatureRadar
WindRadar
LightningRadar
Weather News
Editor's Pick
Discover the app
Weather widget
Contact us
Apps
Career
    Home / Editor's Pick /

    von Kármán vortex street: Cloud vortices captured on WeatherRadar

08:00
29 May 2025

von Kármán vortex street
Cloud vortices captured on WeatherRadar

The WeatherRadar captured the formation of a von Kármán vortex street near Madeira, which was also snapped from satellites above.

Von Kármán vortices form when air masses have to flow around towering obstacles, such as the island of Madeira recently.

In the process, the air swirls downstream of the islands and forms counter-rotating vortices at the edges of the wind shadow zones created by the mountains.

Satellite imagery of the vortices on Tuesday, 27th May. - © NASA Worldview

These disturbances of the air currents are also transferred to the clouds, where they become visible as vortex structures.

Jet Stream driving unsettled weatherread also
Ryan Hathaway
More on the topic
Lightning strikes in dry conditions. Positive earth flashes. . . Monday, 17 August 2026
On the left, massive thunderclouds are gathering at night, with several flashes of lightning streaking from them. On the right, a map shows the Ligurian coast near Genoa and Savona. Numerous coloured dots over the Ligurian Sea and along the coast indicate lightning activity.
Monday, 17 August 2026

Positive earth flashes

Lightning strikes in dry conditions
Flood alerts after heavy showers. Risk in northern England. . . Thursday, 20 August 2026
Weather radar map showing persistent heavy rain across northern England around Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle, with a flood warning symbol highlighting the risk.
Thursday, 20 August 2026

Risk in northern England

Flood alerts after heavy showers
Severe weather risk in holiday spots. Hail and heavy rain. . . Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Split weather graphic showing intense thunderstorms and widespread lightning across northern Italy and Switzerland on the left, with severe warning zones from yellow to red around Milan and the southern Alps on the right.
Wednesday, 19 August 2026

Hail and heavy rain

Severe weather risk in holiday spots
All weather news
This might also interest you
Storm Chandra makes impact. Severe gales & heavy rain. . . Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Split image showing strong winds over the UK on a forecast map and widespread rain and snow on a weather radar map.
Tuesday, 27 January 2026

Severe gales & heavy rain

Storm Chandra makes impact
Bright and warm conditions take hold. Spring-like outlook. . . Thursday, 23 April 2026
Split UK map showing warm temperatures up to 21 degrees in orange on the left and clear sunny conditions with temperatures from 12 to 18 degrees on the right, with sun icons across the country.
Thursday, 23 April 2026

Spring-like outlook

Bright and warm conditions take hold
Historic Storm Éowyn arrives. On this day.... . . Saturday, 24 January 2026
Split image showing a person in a yellow jacket struggling against strong winds and heavy rain on a street at night on the left, and an Irish wind forecast map on the right with red and purple shading, gusts up to 75 mph, and a wind warning icon, divided by a curved white line.
Saturday, 24 January 2026

On this day...

Historic Storm Éowyn arrives
All articles
Weather & Radar

Weather & Radar is also available on

Google Play StoreApp Store

Company

Contact us Privacy Policy Legal info Accessibility statement

Services

Uploader

Socials

facebooktwittertikToklinkList