File:Cloud formations around the Aleutian Islands (MODIS 2016-03-30).jpg

English: On March 20, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA�s Aqua satellite flew over southwestern Alaska and captured this true-color image of complex cloud formations, especially behind the Aleutian Islands.

Strong winds pushed cold air from Alaska over the warmer Bristol Bay, creating cloud streets � long, parallel rows of clouds that line up with the direction of the wind. Cloud streets form when a warmer air layer rests over the top of cold air moving over relatively warmer water.

The cloud streets off the coast of Alaska curve and arc in multiple directions, suggesting the air blowing off the mainland is not constant in either speed or direction. The streets also dissolve into a bank of marine stratocumulus clouds off shore. This suggests either that the inversion doesn�t extend far offshore.

After the winds crossed Bristol Bay they struck the high volcanic peaks of the Aleutian Islands, creating turbulence as it forced past the immobile mountains. The patterns of turbulence created are written in the intricate, sometimes delicate, patterns in the clouds on the leeward side of the islands.