Winter snow is not at all unusual in Minnesota, but the storm that pounded the state on December 10–11, 2010, was unusual. Bringing 17.1 inches of snow to the Twin Cities International Airport, the blizzard was the largest December storm on record for the Minneapolis/St. Paul region, and the fifth largest snowstorm on record for any time, according to the Minnesota State Climatology Office.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image of the snow-covered state on December 12. The large image shows a much wider region, extending south to the edge of the swath of snow in Missouri. In this image, the snow emphasizes the course of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers through southern Minnesota.
References & Resources
- Minnesota State Climatology Office. (2010, December 12). Blizzard and snowstorm—December 10–11, 2010. Accessed December 13, 2010.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
