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 NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite snapped this image of the approaching blizzard around 2:35 a.m. EST on Jan. 22, 2016 using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument's Day-Night band.Credit: NOAA/NASA |
NASA and NOAA have their satellite eyes trained on the powerful winter storm bearing down on the U.S. East Coast this weekend, with the latest views showing the storm's growth and progress through the afternoon.
The latest space views of the winter storm from NOAA's GOES-East satellite show the U.S. East Coast as of 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) today (Jan. 22). At the time, the region was already shrouded by white clouds that stretched from Arkansas to the northeastern coast. Another view, from the powerful NPP Suomi satellite operated by NASA and NOAA, captured a snapshot of the storm before dawn today with city lights of the U.S. Southeast peeping through in infared light.
This visible-light view of the winter storm of Jan. 22-23, 2016 was captured by NOAA's GOES-East satellite at 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT), showing the major storm affecting the U.S. East Coast.Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project
"An area of low pressure centered over the southeastern U.S. will continue developing into a major winter storm which will impact a large portion of the East Coast from the southern Appalachians through the mid-Atlantic states from Friday into the weekend," officials with the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center said in a statement. "Snowfall totals may exceed 2 feet in portions of these areas, including the Baltimore and Washington D.C. metropolitan areas." [See more photos of the winter storm]
Using observations from GOES-East, scientists with the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland created a video animation of the winter storm over the last few days, showing the system strengthen and move eastward between Wednesday and today.