Stormy winds and acres of snow are blanketing the eastern United States today (Dec. 23) inside view of satellites.
Weather forecasters are attempting to help travelers and holiday-goers with staying secure amid the harmful conditions using satellites gazing at the US from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA.
High winds were visible in NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)-East or GOES-16, a satellite in geosynchronous orbit. “Red is high-level, blue mid-level, and yellow is low-level wind,” NOAA said in a tweet (opens in latest tab).
Roughly 60 percent of the US population, or 200 million people, have winter weather warnings or advisories, the National Weather Service (NWS) said in a tweet (opens in latest tab). The dimensions of the storm produced “one among the best extents” of warnings or advisories within the history of the service, NWS added (opens in latest tab) on their website.
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.@NOAA’s #GOESEast 🛰️ is keeping watch over a robust winter storm pushing #Arctic air through the eastern U.S. this morning.This imagery includes satellite-derived winds at different levels within the atmosphere. Red is high-level, blue mid-level, and yellow is low-level wind. pic.twitter.com/dGF0JnSCelDecember 23, 2022
The weather service says a “powerful Arctic front” is behind the storm’s power, bringing heavy snows to the Great Lakes and winter weather hazards even within the Gulf Coast and the central Florida peninsula.
Bitterly cold wind chills are going into zones just like the Carolinas, where the population may not have the infrastructure to cope with it, while regions like Buffalo are being walloped with snow.
The winter storm has already knocked out power to not less than one million customers across the country, the Latest York Times said (opens in latest tab), and parts of Canada are also coping with unusual winds and snow which can be bringing travel disruptions, even in regions which can be equipped for severe winter weather.
Airports across the U.S. and Canada have canceled or delayed flights on what is often one among the busiest days of the 12 months, and disruptions are expected to persist through the weekend at least.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in latest tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in latest tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in latest tab) or Facebook (opens in latest tab).
