Late Spring Snow in the Upper Midwest

An unusually late spring snowstorm pummeled the U.S. Midwest with snow. Green Bay, Wisconsin, experienced the largest April snowstorm on record, with more than 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow falling over April 13–16. The National Weather Service called it a “once in a lifetime” event. The storm closed roads and businesses for several days, caused sporadic power outages, and produced waves up to almost 5 meters (16 feet) high on Lake Michigan.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image at 11:50 Central Daylight Time (16:50 UTC) on April 19, 2018. Temperatures rose quickly after the storm cleared, and large amounts of the snow melted from morning to the afternoon. Forecasters anticipate standing water and minor flooding in northeastern and central Wisconsin as the snow melts.

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NASA Earth Observatory images by Jeff Schmaltz, using MODIS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Kasha Patel.

Published April 20, 2018
Data acquired April 19, 2018

Source:

Terra > MODIS

Collection:

MODIS Rapid Response