Snowstorm in the American Midwest

Snowstorm in the American Midwest

In the Upper Midwest and the Ohio Valley, a major winter snow storm heralded the arrival of spring in the United States. When the storm clouds cleared over the area southwest of Lake Michigan on March 22, 2006, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of the swath of snow across the region. Two swaths of snow are visible in the image. One cuts across the top left corner, northeastward through Minnesota into Wisconsin. The second swath passes southeastward, through Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. At upper right, Michigan is hidden by lingering clouds.

The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides images of the area at additional resolutions.

NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center