AWIPS images of the MODIS visible channel, the 1.6µm near-IR “snow/ice channel”, and the 11.0µm “IR window” channel (above) revealed a large patch of supercooled water droplet stratus cloud (and/or fog) over northeastern Utah on 19 February 2008. This stratus/fog cloud feature was confined to the lower elevations (AWIPS topography image | Johns Hopkins topography image) where... Read More

A comparison of MODIS true color and false color RGB images (above) reveals multiple narrow streaks of snow cover across parts of the Northern Plains on 18 February 2008. The white snow streaks show up well against the surrounding brown bare ground regions in central South Dakota and Nebraska on the true... Read More

MODIS true color imagery from the SSEC MODIS Today site (above, viewed using Google Earth) shows extensive snow cover over the higher elevations of southern California (and Baja California in Mexico) on 15 February 2008. According to media reports, this snow closed sections of Interstate 8 (between Alpine and Ocotillo) for more than 12 hours on the... Read More

According to GOES-12 visible channel imagery (above), less than 12 hours if you’re in the Piedmont region of Virginia and North Carolina, given the presence of dry air and the “warming power” of the increasing sun angle of mid-February! Besides the rapid disappearance of the snow cover on 14 February 2008, there... Read More