MEGA WHITEOUT COVERS THE U-S

DEADLY SNOWSTORM IMPACTS 2/3 OF THE US – SATELLITE IMAGES

The mega snowstorm, which stretched about 2,100 miles and left parts of the Midwest under 2 feet of snow, has killed at least 12 people, the authorities said.

At least 21 states from New Mexico to New Hampshire had received a minimum of 13cm (5 inches) of snow by 9:00am on February 2.

Chicago and Cook county, where schools were closed once again, received 51.3cm  (20.2 inches) of snow, weighing an estimated 500 million metric tons, a February record and the 3rd biggest ever for the city.

Massive snowstorm covers much of the U.S.

Image Source: NOAA – Dated Feb 3, 2011.

GOES-13 image shows the storm at 21:31UTC on February 1. “Heavy snow, ice, freezing rain, and frigid wind battered about two thirds of the United States, making it ‘a winter storm of historic proportions,’ said the National Weather Service.” At least 21 states from New Mexico to New Hampshire had received a minimum of 13cm (5 inches) of snow by 9:00am on February 2, the National Weather Service reported. Chicago, where the schools were closed once again, received 51.3cm  (20.2 inches) of snow, a February record and the 3rd biggest ever for the city. The snow record for Chicago is 58.4 cm (23 inches) set on January 26–27, 1967. SOURCE: NASA-EO. Click image to enlarge.

Photo-like true color of snow extent in the U-S.

MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the above composite images in 3 separate overpasses on February 2. “The top image shows the United States in photo-like true color. The lower image was made with both visible light and infrared light to distinguish between clouds and snow. Snow is turquoise, while clouds are white and pale blue. The exception is a turquoise streak of icy clouds over Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.”  SOURCE: NASA-EO. Click images to enlarge.

• Last 48 hours  of GOES-13 images of the snowstorm progression (animation)

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Snow Cover Animations:

• Snow Water Equivalent: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Snow Depth: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Average Snowpack Temp: Season — Two weeks — One Day
  
• SWE Change: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Snow Precipitation: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Snow Melt: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Blowing Snow Sublimation: Season — Two weeks — One Day
  
• Surface Sublimation: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Non-Snow Precipitation: Season — Two weeks — One Day

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• Massive Midwest Blizzard Batters a 2,100-mile Stretch

• Another Nor’easter Dumps a Foot of Snow on the East Coast
• Arctic cold hits New England
• Latest of East Coast Snowstorms
• Nor’easter Pummels the U-S East Coast

• Western U-S Blasted by Fierce Storm, 2 ft of Snow
• Blizzard Dumps 2 Feet of Snow in NYC
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Nor’easter Pummels the U-S East Coast

Powerful snow storm triggers blizzard conditions in parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut

The third snowstorm in 3 weeks brought strong winds, heavy snow, claps of thunder and blizzard conditions to the U-S East Coast.

Fifty-seven centimeter (22.5 inches) of snow in Hartford, Connecticut, set a new one-day record. As of January 12, 2011, all but two of the U.S. states had snow cover.

U-S Snow Cover

Continental U.S. Snow Cover Map. As of January 12, 2011, Florida was the only state without snow cover.  Image source:  NOHRSC

Continental US Snow Depth Chart. Image source:  NOHRSC. Click image to enlarge.

January 12, 2011
Area Covered By Snow: 70.9%
Area Covered Last Month: 35.1%
Snow Depth
Average: 6.9 in
Minimum: 0.0 in
Maximum: 895.5 in (2,274.4cm)
Std. Dev.: 11.3 in
Snow Water Equivalent
Average: 1.4 in
Minimum: 0.0 in
Maximum: 435.1 in (1,105.1cm)
Std. Dev.: 3.0 in

Snowstorm along the U.S. East Coast

Fifty-seven centimeter (22.5 inches) of snow in Hartford, Connecticut, set a new one-day record. “The storm began developing late on January 11, as a snow-making system that had hit the Southeastern U.S. rode up the Atlantic seaboard and merged with another system crossing from the Midwest.”  The natural-color image above was captured by MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite at 10 am EST on January 12, as the storm center passed over southern New England. Click image to enlarge. Download larger image (6 MB, JPEG)

A rare view of snow across the southern U-S

A rare view of snow across the southern United States! A snow system moved across the United States between January 9 and January 11 prompting the governors in 6 southern states to declare states of emergencies. MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the above image on January 12, 2011. Click image to enlarge. Download larger image (9 MB, JPEG)

Forty-nine U-S states had snow cover

Source: NOAA

• U.S. Snow Cover on January 11, 2011 – High Res Version

Snow Cover Animations:

• Snow Water Equivalent: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Snow Depth: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Average Snowpack Temp: Season — Two weeks — One Day
  
• SWE Change: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Snow Precipitation: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Snow Melt: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Blowing Snow Sublimation: Season — Two weeks — One Day
  
• Surface Sublimation: Season — Two weeks — One Day
• Non-Snow Precipitation: Season — Two weeks — One Day

Click Below for 31 Day Animations

• Northern Hemisphere
• United States and Canada
• Alaska
• Europe/Asia

Related Links:

• U-S Snowstorm Headlines
• Global Climate Extremes INTENSIFYING
• Deadly Snowstorms Hit North America

December Snowstorm Only a Cat 3 on NESIS Scale

NOAA Ranks December Snowstorm a Category 3 on the Northeast Snowfall Impact 5-tier Scale

Snowfall accumulation from the Dec. 18-21, 2009 storm. (Credit: NOAA). [Click image for High Resolution]

NOAA says the Dec. 18-20, 2009 system that dumped heavy snow from the mid-Atlantic to southern New England, was only a Category 3 or “Major” winter storm on its Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale,  NESIS.

NESIS ranking uses data provided by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, which are based on

• How much snow falls in the area (must deposit at least 10 inches)
• Scale of the area impacte
• Population of the impacted area

NESIS ranks these storms on a five-tier scale ranging from Category 1 “Notable” to Category 5 “Extreme.”

“While snowfall from the December storm ranked in the top ten for Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia, the storm only provided a glancing blow to the New York City and Boston metropolitan areas and overall affected a relatively small area. This led to it being classified as a Category 3,” said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction – a division of NOAA’s National Weather Service – and co-developer of NESIS with Paul Kocin also with NCEP in Camp Springs, Md. Both Uccellini and Kocin are published winter weather experts.

“Last month’s storm was one of only five in the past decade that ranked Category 3 or higher,” added Kocin. The others being: December, 2002 (Category 3); February, 2003 (Category 4); January, 2005 (Category 4); February, 2006 (Category 3) and February, 2007 (Category 3).

Category 5 storms or  the  ‘Superstorm’ top the NESIS scale the only two storms rated Cat 5 occurred on March, 1993 followed by the ‘Blizzard of ’96‘ in January, 1996. The scale was devised in 2004 and it catalogs storms since 1888, NOAA said.