“Hurricane” in the desert

This is something you don’t see every day.

From NOAA EVL – Satellite Captures Rare Cloud Rotation in the Desert

This small low pressure system is bringing rain to the area around Twentynine Palms, CA. The remnants of a storm that developed over the Gulf of California, the low has taken on an anticyclonic rotation as it moves north northwest. This image was taken by GOES East at 1715Z on July 6, 2011.

See large closeup below: