Weather Phenomena in Tenerife 4 is the fourth article in a series of six that cover specific weather phenomena in Tenerife and, by extension, the Canary Islands. In this article is about clouds and vortices.
In this part of the weather phenomena around Tenerife, we highlight two things that do not occur in the Low Countries: on one hand, a lenticular cloud, and on the other hand, the almost invisible air currents over the Atlantic Ocean disturbed by an archipelago.
Look into the distance and admire the azimuth, look down and enjoy the landscape below you, look up and behold the sky. Invisible air currents move in it, and certain things are recognized in these vortices. This is part four in this series: Weather Phenomena (4) – Clouds and Vortices.
A cloud is a hydrometeor, consisting of extremely small, barely visible, individual water droplets and ice particles, or a mixture of the two. Most cloud droplets have a diameter of 1/100 to 1/200 mm, with only a few being larger than 1/50 mm.
My neighbor, blessed with an age of over 80 years, looks up at the sky a lot, and sometimes he sees ‘strange’ things, meteorological phenomena that are not common. After a discussion, he showed me a photo and was convinced that he had spotted strange UFOs. And in a way, he’s right. ‘Strange’? Absolutely. ‘UFOs’? Not at all!
Lenticular Clouds
A cumulus lenticularis is a stationary cloud, often stacked, that develops in mountainous areas. Its name refers to its almond or lens shape. These clouds typically form at an altitude between 6,000 and 12,000 meters. Sometimes, they even cling to a mountain peak.
When the wind blows strongly against the mountain, the air is forced to rise, and as a result, the temperature of the air decreases. This is why the air sometimes becomes saturated with water vapor, forming clouds. A lenticular cloud remains more or less in the same spot, while the air continues to flow.
The formation of lenticular clouds can indicate fast air currents in the higher layers of the atmosphere or a sudden increase in wind speed at a certain altitude. The cloud appears flattened, which can lead to spectacular and unusual images.
El sombrero del Teide
Pilots avoid these clouds due to the turbulence caused by updrafts. On the other hand, paragliders and glider pilots use these updrafts to reach great heights. The world record for the longest glider flight is 3,000 km, and the highest glider flight was 15,460 meters, thanks to a lift from this cloud.
People also talk about El sombrero del Teide or ‘the hat on Teide’. The cloud dissipates as the air descends further and warms up again.
The Von Kármán Vortices
Even laminar air currents over oceans can be disturbed by mountainous islands. These obstacles act as disruptors, especially on the leeward side of the islands, where disturbances occur in the laminar airflow. This creates a beautiful pattern of vortex swirls.
Such a flow pattern is also known as the Von Kármán vortex street, named after the Hungarian discoverer of the phenomenon.
Satellite images show this clearly. The islands can also cause bow-wave-like clearing areas, and occasionally, one or two cloud plumes are visible.
The cloud patterns are too small to be shown on weather maps, especially since observational data in the areas where the vortex pattern occurs is often very scarce. The vortices, on the other hand, are too large to be recognized as such by observers from ships or planes.
Sunnier in the South
The phenomenon of vortex patterns forming in a uniform flow behind an obstacle is well known in fluid dynamics. The vortices form alternately on the left and right sides of the obstacle, break away, and are replaced by a newly formed vortex. This creates a pattern consisting of two almost parallel rows of vortices; the distance between the centerlines of the vortex rows equals the diameter of the obstacle. In both rows, the vortices follow each other so closely that the distances between them are roughly equal. Vortices in one row rotate in the same direction, and their direction is opposite to that of the vortices in the other row.
This is one of the reasons why you can lie in the sun longer in the south of Tenerife than in the north. The vortices help create clearer skies.
This is part four in this series: Weather Phenomena in Tenerife 4 – Clouds and Vortices.
Also, check out the previously published articles about weather and climate on Tenerife:
Part 1: Phenomena
Part 2: Calima
Part 3: Wind and Clouds
Part 4: Clouds and Vortices
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