'Cloud streets': A mesmerizing atmospheric phenomenon

(Image credit: Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC)

When cold air from snowy landscapes meets warmer air over open water, it can result in thin, parallel lines of spinning air. As these cylinders turn they evaporate and produce clouds, creating mesmerizing ripples in the sky — a phenomenon known as cloud streets.

Occasionally, when the wind driving the cloud streets encounters an obstacle (likely from the land), those parallel lines can take on a paisley pattern, which is known as a "von Karman vortex street," named after the 19th-century Hungarian mathematician Theodore von Karman. The below image, acquired in 1999, shows the unique shapes forming off the Chilean coast, near the Juan Fernandez Islands.

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Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.