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Satellite signature of ice accretion across parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 Day Snow-Fog RGB images, from 1301-2301 UTC on 31 March [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Darker shades of red in GOES-16 (GOES-East) Day Snow-Fog RGB images on 31 March 2025 (above) highlighted areas in eastern/northeastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that received an accrual of ice (from sleet and/or freezing rain/drizzle) as a late-season winter storm moved across the region during the previous 2 days. In the RGB images — created using Geo2Grid — snow-covered ground appeared as brighter shades of red, with bare ground exhibiting shades of green; clouds appeared as shades of white to pale yellow/green (depending on the cloud-top phase).

A sequence of GOES-16 Visible and Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” images is shown below — areas that received significant ice accretion exhibited darker shades of black in the Snow/Ice images. The highest ice accretion amounts in northern Wisconsin were 0.50″ in Forest and Oconto County, with 0.50″ also reported in Delta County in the UP of Michigan.

Sequence of GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) images (with/without County outlines/names), from 1306-2301 UTC on 31 March [click to play MP4 animation]

On the following day, clouds had cleared enough across the eastern UP of Michigan and northern Lower Michigan to reveal a darker-red Day Snow-Fog RGB signature of the areal coverage of ice accrual in those areas (below).

GOES-16 Day Snow-Fog RGB images, from 1231-1651 UTC on 01 April [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

In a toggle between GOES-16 Day Snow-Fog RGB and True Color RGB images (below), in northern Lower Michigan note the lack of a brighter white True Color appearance along the southern edge of the strong (darker red) Day Snow-Fog ice accrual signature — a layer of ice on the ground with no snow cover is generally translucent.

GOES-16 Day Snow-Fog RGB and True Color RGB images at 1401 UTC on 01 April [click to enlarge]

A sequence of GOES-16 Visible and Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” images is shown below — areas that received significant ice accretion exhibited darker shades of black in the Snow/Ice images. The highest ice accretion amounts in northern Lower Michigan were 1.50″ in Oconto County, 0.76″ in Presque Isle County and 0.75″ in Oscoda County.

Sequence of GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) images (with/without County outlines/names), from 1231-1651 UTC on 01 April [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: Geo2Grid, GOES-16, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Winter weather