Radar Anomaly Over Mexico Sparks Mystery

A radar anomaly was spotted on a weather map over Mexico, sparking a mystery and capturing the imagination of online sleuths.

A patterned swirl shape appeared on a weather radar map above San Luis Potosi, near Mexico City, on the app and website of the weather service Windy.

The strange shape was visible for about an hour on the weather radar on Sunday, according to social media posts.

The multi-colored wheel could be seen slowly rotating clockwise before disappearing.

Reddit users jokingly speculated that it was an "Aztec mother ship," or possibly made by ancient mythical gods, or even a giant magnet weapon such as the one from the movie Despicable Me 2.

One Reddit user suggested: "ALIENS ARE TAKING OVER."

The anomaly over Mexico appeared as many amateur meteorologists were watching weather maps to track the path of Hurricane Beryl, which had made landfall in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula on Friday before heading toward Texas.

While the cause of the radar irregularity is yet to be officially confirmed, a nearly identical one previously appeared on weather maps in 2020.

Some speculated at the time that an "evil ritual" had taken place in the area and dismembered bodies had been discovered in the location, which may have caused weather radars to pick up the "strange energy signature."

While it sparked plenty of online speculation, meteorologists were quick to explain that it was simply a standard glitch that can happen with range testing.

Meteorologist Robert Speta explained on X, then Twitter, at the time: "This is a range test. It basically is the computer program running data through the radar to confirm the radar works in all directions. I have run this test before while working with weather radar it's pretty standard maintenance."

Newsweek has reached out to Windy.com via email to ask for an explanation of the anomaly.

There are plenty of other explanations for irregularities on weather radars. According to MetService, the national meteorological service of New Zealand, weather radars can also pick up interference from things ranging from the sun to temperature inversion or even other radio transmissions.

Strange anomalies appear periodically on meteorological maps, and often spark speculation and conspiracy theories online.

A mysterious wave anomaly that appeared on a map in May was quickly debunked by the meteorological app it was seen on, with a spokesperson for the company Ventusky telling Newsweek that it was due to a "model error."