Images
December 20, 2020 - Winter Storm Gail
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From December 16-17, snow piled up fast across the Northeastern United States during the first potent nor’easter of 2020. Dubbed Winter Storm Gail by The Weather Channel (TWC), the storm brought snow from the Appalachian Mountains to New England. But the brunt of the nor’easter battered parts of New York and Pennsylvania, where a nearly stationary band of snow dropped enough snow to break records.
Reports indicate that a band of heavy snowfall delivered about 40 inches (1 meter) to inland parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Areas within Pennsylvania and Vermont likely set state records for 24-hour accumulation totals. According to TWC, snow fell at the rate of 5 inches (12.7 cm) per hour in Binghamton, New York and ultimately dumped 40 inches (1 meter) of snow at the Greater Binghamton Airport – the heaviest snowstorm on record. Also, more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow fell in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, breaking its all-time record.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this false-color image in the afternoon on December 17, 2020, as the storm started moving out to sea. This image was made using both infrared and visible light to help differentiate snow and cloud, both which appear white in true-color images. In this image, vegetation appears green, deep water inky-blue, fresh snow is electric blue, and cloud appears white. Where cloud-tops are cold and icy they also are colored a light electric blue. At the time this image was captured, storm clouds still obscured some of the hardest-hit areas.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 12/17/2020
Resolutions:
1km (227.1 KB), 500m (852.9 KB), 250m (2.8 MB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
From December 16-17, snow piled up fast across the Northeastern United States during the first potent nor’easter of 2020. Dubbed Winter Storm Gail by The Weather Channel (TWC), the storm brought snow from the Appalachian Mountains to New England. But the brunt of the nor’easter battered parts of New York and Pennsylvania, where a nearly stationary band of snow dropped enough snow to break records.
Reports indicate that a band of heavy snowfall delivered about 40 inches (1 meter) to inland parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Areas within Pennsylvania and Vermont likely set state records for 24-hour accumulation totals. According to TWC, snow fell at the rate of 5 inches (12.7 cm) per hour in Binghamton, New York and ultimately dumped 40 inches (1 meter) of snow at the Greater Binghamton Airport – the heaviest snowstorm on record. Also, more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow fell in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, breaking its all-time record.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this false-color image in the afternoon on December 17, 2020, as the storm started moving out to sea. This image was made using both infrared and visible light to help differentiate snow and cloud, both which appear white in true-color images. In this image, vegetation appears green, deep water inky-blue, fresh snow is electric blue, and cloud appears white. Where cloud-tops are cold and icy they also are colored a light electric blue. At the time this image was captured, storm clouds still obscured some of the hardest-hit areas.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 12/17/2020
Resolutions:
1km (227.1 KB), 500m (852.9 KB), 250m (2.8 MB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
