January 4, 2022 - Snow in the Midwest

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Snow in the Midwest
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A ferocious winter storm system swept across the United States in the
opening days of 2022. After dumping rain and snow in the western
states, the storm took aim at the Midwest on January 1 before striking
the Mid-Atlantic on January 3.

The New Year’s Day storm laid down six inches (15.3 cm) of snow in the
Chicago region, marking only the sixth January 1st that has seen more
than 3 inches (7.6 cm) of snow in that city since 1884. According to
AccuWeather, Chicago finished December with temperatures averaging 7.5
degrees above the normal of 31.5 degrees and in sixth place on the
all-time list of warm Decembers that dates back to the mid-1800s. The
storm system brought a dramatic end to the warm winter, dropping the
high in Chicago to only January 1 to only 33˚F (0.5˚C). On January 3,
highs in that city registered only 23˚F (-5˚C) with similar
temperatures expected all week.

High snowfall and low temperatures were also the story across most of
the Midwest on January 1. AccuWeather reports that Oklahoma City, which
had roasted under the warmest December on record (average temperature
50.7˚F) shivered under a high of 28˚F (-2.2˚C) by January 2. In Hays,
Kansas, the first day of 2022 brought up to 8 inches of new-fallen snow
while, according to the National Weather Service, winds chills that
dropped the air temperature to -26˚F (-32.2˚F) in that state.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of the fresh snow
across the Midwestern United States on January 2. This type of image
uses MODIS bands 7,2,1 to help separate snow from cloud. Here, snow
appears electric blue while vegetation looks green and open land
appears tan or brown. Cloud appears white, although some high cloud
that contains copious amounts of ice crystals will take on a light blue
tint. Snow can be seen across all or part of the following states (from
the north, moving west to east): Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas,
Missouri, Illinois, northern New Mexico, northern Texas, and
northwestern Oklahoma.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 1/2/2022
Resolutions: 1km (516.7 KB), 500m (2.1 MB), 250m (7 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=2022-01-04
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