Tracks of a Snowstorm!

Satellite imagery puts it all in perspective. Here is the GOES visible satellite image on Friday, February 18, 2022, at 12:01 CST. The images shows a large part of North America including Mexico and Central America, the United States, and southern Canada. While we see the clouds there is also a noticeable band of white from northern Oklahoma across southeast Kansas, Missouri, the southeast corner of Iowa, central and northern Illinois and on to the lower Great Lakes. This is the path of the last snowstorm - the track of the storm!

A closer view of the track below this image shows where trees and lakes, which are not snow covered, show up as darker areas. They are easily identified.

GOES image courtesy of NOAA/NESDIS/STAR

Notice the distinct band of snow cover from northern Oklahoma northeast to Indiana. Within the band we can see the location of rivers - especially in Illinois and Missouri. To the north there is a band of clouds from South Dakota and southern North Dakota across southern Minnesota into Wisconsin. Most of the white (not all) over northern Iowa is snow cover. Snow cover is also visible in northern Minnesota and if you look closely you will see distinctly denser areas of white in northern Minnesota that is ice and snow cover over the larger lakes in that area. The Upper and Lower Red Lakes are visible as is Leech Lake. Truly remarkable imagery!

Image courtesy of NOAA/NESDIS/STAR