A “bomb cyclone” had widespread impact throughout the US and Canada.
Contemporary satellite imagery exhibits snow and clouds blanketing the northeastern U.S. states together with Canada’s province of Ontario. The treacherous conditions on the bottom Saturday (Dec. 24) and Sunday (Dec. 25) included blizzards, thick snow and freezing rain, posing a risk to vacationers throughout the peak vacation season.
“As winds howled and snow piled up from what some forecasters referred to as a ‘once-in-a-generation’ storm (opens in new tab), so did the site visitors accidents, energy outages, and transportation woes,” NASA officers wrote in a statement (opens in new tab) concerning the imagery, obtained with the company’s Aqua satellite.
Gusts of wind had been recorded as excessive as 79 mph (127 kph) in Lackawanna, New York, simply south of town of Buffalo. A number of different states noticed winds blowing at 50 mph (80 km/h), in keeping with Nationwide Climate Service statistics quoted by NASA.
Associated: ‘Bomb cyclone’ hits eastern US as satellites watch (video)
This false-color model of the picture makes use of a mixture of seen and shortwave infrared gentle to differentiate clouds (white) from snow and ice (blue). pic.twitter.com/370V5yMgIlDecember 27, 2022
A “bomb cyclone” refers to a sudden drop in stress of no less than 24 millibars in 24 hours. Mixed with blizzard circumstances, some communities alongside the Nice Lakes noticed unbelievable quantities of snow.
Communities east of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, notably the Buffalo area, noticed a storm surge of greater than 50 inches (127 cm), NASA officers famous. Different areas noticed much less snow attain the bottom, nonetheless, peaking at solely about 5 inches (13 cm).
Aqua obtained the imagery utilizing its Reasonable Decision Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The picture main this text is in pure colour, whereas the Twitter embed focuses on seen and shortwave infrared gentle to higher see the variations between clouds (white) from snow and ice (blue).
Satellites are a key instrument in climate forecasting and in addition in catastrophe response, the place related. NASA and the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have a big fleet gazing on the planet, and have pledged to launch more within the 2020s to refresh a few of the older ones. Aqua, for instance, launched in 2002.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a guide about space medication. Comply with her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
