October 15, 2021 - October Snowstorm Blankets the Intermountain West
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An autumn snowstorm struck the Intermountain West in early October
2021, dropping enough snow that some residents needed a yardstick to
measure the white powder. With temperatures forecast to drop well below
freezing, a call for families and farmers to “harvest or cover your
crops” was issued over much of the ahead of the incoming storm.
Dropping temperatures and white flakes were seen in Idaho, Montana, and
Nevada on October 11, with several parts of Montana reporting a foot of
snow that evening and one town confirming a 20-inch (50.8 cm)
accumulation. By the next day the impact was felt along a wide swath
from Montana to Arizona. By October 13, snow accumulation of more than
a half-foot were widespread, with high mountain areas layered under two
feet or more of the white stuff, according to data from the National
Weather Service’s National Snow Analyses maps.
On October 13, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of
freshly-fallen snow across Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. This type of
image uses a combination of infrared and visible light (MODIS bands
7,2,1) that helps differentiate white snow from white cloud and also
from the non-snow-covered landscape. Here we see snow colored electric
blue while cloud remains white. Vegetated areas are bright green and
open areas with little or no vegetation appears in shades of tan or
brown. Water appears deep blue or black. With this band combination,
it’s east to see that widespread snow clings to ridges and high
elevation with small banks cloud also tending to float near the
ridgelines.
Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 10/13/2021
Resolutions: 1km (128.6 KB), 500m (478.4 KB), 250m (1.5 MB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-10-15
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