MSGID: 1:317/3 63a88fb5   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   December 25, 2022 - Killer Winter Storm Rolls Across North America   
      
      Snow storm   
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      On December 22, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer   
      (MODIS) acquired a false-color image of a vicious and frigid winter   
      storm as it rolled across the United States. On that date, a newscaster   
      reported that the storm stretched “from coast to coast and border to   
      border”, and this image proves that description to be true. However, it   
      was an understatement. Not only did the storm lay a tremendous wallop   
      on the Lower 48 U.S. states, but it also stretched northward to pummel   
      Canada.   
      
      In this type of false-color image, blue and shortwave infrared light   
      (MODIS bands 3,6,7) are used to highlight the different reflectivity of   
      snow, ice, clouds, and vegetation. The bold green marks areas of   
      vegetation, while bright red marks highly reflective and cold snow or   
      ice. Clouds appear white or, if they contain ice crystals, may look   
      light peach. The deep peach is most likely extremely cold cloud and   
      snow.   
      
      In the United States, the cross-country storm first wound up in the   
      Pacific Northwest on December 20, dropping up to two feet of snow in   
      the Cascade Mountains. By the next day, it was dropping both snow and   
      temperatures over the Rockies and the Great Plains. According to The   
      Weather Channel, temperatures in Denver, Colorado dropped 37 degrees in   
      only one hour, then dropped even more to settle about -24˚F (-31˚C)   
      early on December 22. After shutting down traffic across the Great   
      Plains, the storm intensified so rapidly that it met the criteria for a   
      "bomb cyclone”, which is a drop of at least 24 millibars (a measure of   
      atmospheric pressure) over 24 hours. A rapid drop in atmospheric   
      pressure creates an “explosive” storm that can carry super-strong,   
      damaging winds. The winds became very strong, indeed. A gust was   
      measured at 79 mph (127 km/h) at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport   
      on December 23.   
      
      The cold even reached the southern state of Florida, where lows of 14˚F   
      (-10˚C) are expected by the early morning hours of December 25. And on   
      December 24, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Energy Department   
      declared a power emergency in Texas, as some power plants began to   
      fail. Meanwhile, north of the border, every province and territory in   
      Canada had issued an emergency weather warning on December 24—a total   
      of 425 in all—as wind chills hit -50˚C (-58˚F) in some locations.   
      Across both countries, many thousands of airline flights were   
      cancelled, many traffic pile-ups were reported, schools were cancelled,   
      and people struggled to cope with the cold, wind, snow, and even   
      serious coastal storm surges. As of December 24, the storm has taken 20   
      lives in the United States.   
      
      Image Facts   
      Satellite:  Terra   
      Date Acquired: 12/22/2022   
      Resolutions:  1km (4.4 MB),   
      Bands Used: 3,6,7   
      Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC   
      
      
      
   https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-12-25   
       
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