GOES-13 Satellite Sees Groundhog's Day on Ice
Punxsutawney Phil predicted that spring will come on time, and NASA satellite data suggests that residents in more than one-third of the U.S. are now anxious for the prediction to come true.
Punxsutawney Phil predicted that spring will come on time, and NASA
satellite data suggests that residents in more than one-third of the
U.S. are now anxious for the prediction to come true.
A
massive winter storm touched 30 states over the last couple of days,
including Phil's home at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. where rain
mixed with sleet and freezing rain this morning before it changed to
snow as part of that system. Phil's town is about 80 miles northeast of
Pittsburgh. Looking at the satellite data, it's more than likely that
the cloud cover and wet weather prevented the famous groundhog from
seeing his shadow. Regardless, tradition says that spring will arrive
on time.
Satellite imagery from the Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite called GOES-13 keeps a constant eye on the weather over the
eastern U.S. The two GOES satellites that monitor weather over the
U.S., the other being GOES-11 covering the western U.S., are both
operated by NOAA. Images and animations using the satellite data are
created by the NASA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Md.
In a GOES-13 satellite image taken at 1731 UTC (12:31 p.m. EST) on Feb.
2, 2011 there were still clouds over Punxsutawney, Pa. and they were
still bringing light snow to the town during the afternoon, hours after
the groundhog's famous prediction. The satellite image also showed the
most of the thicker clouds were already exiting New England and were
bringing Boston, Mass. light rain, mist and fog and while Portland,
Maine was getting light snow.
The National Weather Service (NWS) indicated that yesterday, Feb. 1,
Chicago experienced a record snowfall of 13.6 inches. According to
reports from the Weather Channel by 7 a.m. CST on Feb. 2, there was
more than 17 inches of snow on the ground who mentioned it was the
fifth all time biggest snow storm on record for the city.
In Saint Louis, Mo. the NWS reported a record 17.5 inches of snow
yesterday and 13.2 inches in Tulsa, Okla. The NWS reported that
Milwaukee, Wis. received 8.5 inches on Feb. 1, but a blizzard warning
was still in effect during the morning of Feb. 2. In the forecast
discussion for Milwaukee, the NWS called it an "historic groundhog
blizzard [that is] paralyzing southeast Wisconsin," as winds were
gusting as high as 45 mph yesterday and today.
The monster winter storm that created these records is now exiting New
England and the GOES-13 satellite is tracking its movement. As GOES-13
continues to watch for the next winter storm, there's hope that the
groundhog made an accurate prediction.
Related Link
Images from the MODIS satellite instrument showing snow throughout the Midwest:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=49091
