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Fresh snow cover on the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute GOES-18 True Color RGB images on 1st February and 2nd February [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute PACUS Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) displayed the bright white signature of fresh snow cover on the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawai`i on 1st February and 2nd February 2025. This snowfall occurred as a strong storm brought severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall to parts of the island chain on 30-31 January.

30-meter resolution Landsat-8 “Natural Color” RGB imagery from the RealEarth site (below) provided a more detailed view of the snow cover (brighter shades of cyan) on 1st February.

Landsat-8 “Natural Color” RGB image at 2048 UTC on 1st February [click to enlarge]

===== 3rd February Update =====

Sentinel-2 True Color RGB images of Mauna Kea on 29th January and 3rd February [click to enlarge]

Toggles between Sentinel-2 True Color RGB images (source) of Mauna Kea (above) and Mauna Loa (below) showed the 2 summits before snowfall (on 29th January) and after snowfall (on 3rd February).

Sentinel-2 True Color RGB images of Mauna Loa on 29th January and 3rd February [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-18, Landsat, Other Satellites, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Winter weather