Cosmic Log - snow

Feb

2011

3:57pm, EST

Satellite imagery shows whopper of a storm bearing down on U.S.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

This visible image was captured by the GOES-13 satellite and shows the low pressure area stretching from the Colorado Rockies and Texas east to New England on Tuesday, Feb. 1.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Three images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra satellite were combined to create this image of the storm system over the United States on Monday, Jan. 31. White gaps are areas where the sensor did not collect data. The image has a resolution of one kilometer per pixel.

By Jonathan Woods

The National Weather Service is warning of a serious winter storm. It's huge - 2000 miles wide - and satellite images from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center pretty much sum it up. From the looks of things, Florida is the place to be.

See more images in the full slideshow.

The storm was bearing down on the middle of the United States on Tuesday, with freezing rain and sleet pelting several states from Texas through Ohio ahead of blizzard conditions expected overnight.

Parts of nine states — Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio — were covered by blizzard warnings, TODAY's Al Roker reported.

White-outs paralyzed Oklahoma City and the Tulsa area, where snowpack caused the partial collapse of a roof at the Hard Rock Casino. Blowing snow created drifts up to 4 feet high.

Holiday calendar: White Christmas in the Midwest

By John Roach, Contributing Writer, NBC News

Dreaming of a White Christmas? This satellite image shows what it would look like from more than 400 miles up. The picture, snapped on Sunday by NASA's Terra satellite, shows the aftermath of a massive snowstorm that walloped the Midwestern U.S. last weekend before wreaking havoc further east.

Although snowy weather is the norm this time of year in the Midwest, this one was a monster. The 17.1 inches of white stuff measured at the Twin Cities International Airport in Minnesota set a record for the largest December storm in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region and was the fifth-largest snowstorm ever recorded in the state, according to the state's climatology office.

Minnesota wasn't the only state impacted by the winter blast. A significant part of about a dozen states can be seen blanketed in snow in this true-color image by Terra's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, or MODIS.

The storm, for football fans at least, will be most remembered for causing the collapse of the inflatable roof on the Metrodome, home to the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. The incident forced a planned Sunday game between the Vikings and the New York Giants to be moved to Monday night in Detroit. The Vikings lost, 21-3.

Terra's big-picture view of the storm is part of the Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar, which is highlighting images of Earth from space every day until Christmas. For more Advent calendar goodies, check out the Web links below:

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Satellite imagery shows whopper of a storm bearing down on U.S.

The big blizzard ... in 40 seconds

Holiday calendar: White Christmas in the Midwest