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March 5, 2015 5:10 PM Subscribe
A Giant Picture of Snow Across the United States [New York Times]
These composite satellite images compare the snow cover in February of 2013, 2014 and 2015. This year, much of the Northeast, including the New York metropolitan area and New England, received more than a foot of extra snow than in an average February.Each image is a composite of about 60 satellite pictures taken between Feb. 1 and March 5 of each year. Whiter areas indicate greater snow cover.
Whiter areas indicate greater snow cover.
This changes everything.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 5:19 PM on March 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
This changes everything.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 5:19 PM on March 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
What's really interesting (and alarming) is that the western cordillera mountains have received less snow than compared to 2013 and 2014. There's less snowpack, mostly because the Jet Stream has been diverted far to the north... until it plunges erratically deep into the Midwest bringing all that extra snow to the northeast.
Looks like this summer will be bad for wildfires.
posted by Nevin at 5:23 PM on March 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Looks like this summer will be bad for wildfires.
posted by Nevin at 5:23 PM on March 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Can I be first in with, "see, this totally proves there is no global warming."
posted by notreally at 5:30 PM on March 5, 2015
posted by notreally at 5:30 PM on March 5, 2015
http://ifglobalwarmingisrealwhyisitcold.tumblr.com/
posted by Drinky Die at 5:32 PM on March 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Drinky Die at 5:32 PM on March 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
guys guys I had this great idea for an original comment about how glob—
oh
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:33 PM on March 5, 2015 [8 favorites]
oh
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:33 PM on March 5, 2015 [8 favorites]
I can't look at this because it will give me flashbacks... to this afternoon.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:40 PM on March 5, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:40 PM on March 5, 2015 [12 favorites]
Not a lot of green anywhere in those photos.
Forget that. The cities are gone!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:49 PM on March 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Forget that. The cities are gone!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:49 PM on March 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
What's shocking is how much less snow there is in the Sierras and Pacific NW. Sure all the snow in the Northeast is crappy to live in (hi from MA!), but the lack of snowpack in areas that provide water to some of the most agriculture-intensive areas in the US? That's devastating.
posted by apricot at 5:49 PM on March 5, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by apricot at 5:49 PM on March 5, 2015 [7 favorites]
yeah, this presentation misses the second half of the story: the skiing out west has been terrible this year!
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 5:51 PM on March 5, 2015
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 5:51 PM on March 5, 2015
Why do I keep choosing to live in that 15% of the continental US covered up in white?
posted by pjenks at 5:56 PM on March 5, 2015
posted by pjenks at 5:56 PM on March 5, 2015
What's shocking is how much less snow there is in the Sierras and Pacific NW.
It didn't happen in New York, so that's just Flyover Country.
yeah, this presentation misses the second half of the story: the skiing out west has been terrible this year!
Obviously New Yorkers go to Europe for skiing.
I am serious, this is a problem with the NYTimes and other NY-centric media.
posted by charlie don't surf at 6:15 PM on March 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
It didn't happen in New York, so that's just Flyover Country.
yeah, this presentation misses the second half of the story: the skiing out west has been terrible this year!
Obviously New Yorkers go to Europe for skiing.
I am serious, this is a problem with the NYTimes and other NY-centric media.
posted by charlie don't surf at 6:15 PM on March 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
What's shocking is how much less snow there is in the Sierras and Pacific NW.
Some parts of the region are under ten percent of the normal snow-water amount. It's going to be a very dry summer (at least in terms of snow-melt, though it could turn into a rainy summer I suppose) with predictably bad impacts on fish, farming, and recreation. Predictions are for an exciting fire season as well.
It didn't happen in New York, so that's just Flyover Country.
No kidding. I love reading the New Yorker as much as anyone, but the reduction of the rest of the country to "over there" gets a bit old sometimes.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:29 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Some parts of the region are under ten percent of the normal snow-water amount. It's going to be a very dry summer (at least in terms of snow-melt, though it could turn into a rainy summer I suppose) with predictably bad impacts on fish, farming, and recreation. Predictions are for an exciting fire season as well.
It didn't happen in New York, so that's just Flyover Country.
No kidding. I love reading the New Yorker as much as anyone, but the reduction of the rest of the country to "over there" gets a bit old sometimes.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:29 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Fuck me there's literally no snow in the Sierra Nevada. No wonder Cali is in permadrought.
posted by Talez at 6:40 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Talez at 6:40 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Why do I keep choosing to live in that 15% of the continental US covered up in white?
Because it's better than living in the thirty percent that's year-round brown?
We got seven inches down here in Chattanooga this past week. The community reaction can only be described as apeshit.
posted by AdamCSnider at 6:42 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Because it's better than living in the thirty percent that's year-round brown?
We got seven inches down here in Chattanooga this past week. The community reaction can only be described as apeshit.
posted by AdamCSnider at 6:42 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
wait, so all I have to do to escape the snow is go a bit south of INDIANAPOLIS ? for some reason, I thought this country was, like, blanketed in snow down to Kentucky. It's like, the only snow is in the tippity top part! Dang.
Hey, speaking of LEAVING THE SNOW, can anyone recommend a website that lets you easily see how many inches of snow / rain / days of sun a city gets?
posted by rebent at 6:45 PM on March 5, 2015
Hey, speaking of LEAVING THE SNOW, can anyone recommend a website that lets you easily see how many inches of snow / rain / days of sun a city gets?
posted by rebent at 6:45 PM on March 5, 2015
I live in Montana, but I came here from Minnesota and still have family back there. A few years back we got a pretty bad snowstorm that shut a lot of things down for a bit. That system moved eastward, as they do, and about a day later my folks in MN were talking about this really bad snowstorm that was hitting them. The next day, it moved further east and got Chicago—I know because it rated a passing mention on the Weather Channel. The day after that, it reached the east coast. And the newspapers, TV, radio, politicians, everyone was ALL SNOWMAGEDDON ALL THE TIME. Sometimes it's nice to be ignored. Sometimes I wish at least the national media was a bit more national.
" can anyone recommend a website that lets you easily see how many inches of snow / rain / days of sun a city gets?"
I use https://weatherspark.com under the “Averages” section.
posted by traveler_ at 6:53 PM on March 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
" can anyone recommend a website that lets you easily see how many inches of snow / rain / days of sun a city gets?"
I use https://weatherspark.com under the “Averages” section.
posted by traveler_ at 6:53 PM on March 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was just coming in here to say how pretty I think our sweet little planet is. Then I started reading comments. Poor sweet little planet.
posted by Annika Cicada at 7:03 PM on March 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Annika Cicada at 7:03 PM on March 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
(Opens raincoat, displays Lake Michigan)
You folks need some water?
posted by clavdivs at 7:04 PM on March 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
You folks need some water?
posted by clavdivs at 7:04 PM on March 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
The temperature in San Francisco today was in the mid-70s. There has been very little rain this winter. This is completely bizarre weather. Global warming is for real.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 7:23 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 7:23 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Anyone out West who wants my snow can have it. I'm tired of being cold. Just bring your refrigerated truck.
posted by MissySedai at 8:55 PM on March 5, 2015
posted by MissySedai at 8:55 PM on March 5, 2015
Meanwhile, in Alaska, i have not shoveled snow AT ALL this winter. There were times i could have but didn’t bother because i knew it was going to melt away within the week anyway.
Our local ski resort has been closed all season except for where they made snow artificially.
posted by D.C. at 12:56 AM on March 6, 2015
Our local ski resort has been closed all season except for where they made snow artificially.
posted by D.C. at 12:56 AM on March 6, 2015
The snowpack in the northern Rockies and Cascades is, last I heard, about 22% of normal.
Last summer, there were fires in the eastern Cascades that were degrading air quality so badly with smoke in downwind cities 250 miles away that there were health warnings for weeks. And the air tasted funny. And there was a visible brown haze.
I've been watching the fires in the Cascades for the past few years, which have threatened towns, cut off entire communities from any contact with the outside world except for ham radio, filled occupied valleys with smoke so think you can barely see to drive, let alone breathe... This isn't "decades of bad fire management" sort of material, this is simply "the trees don't contain enough moisture and every lightning strike sets something ablaze" sort of stuff going on.
22% of normal. Less than 1/4 of the water the forests usually have to soak up during springtime thaw to keep the trees moist and healthy enough to resist bursting into flame at any small opportunity.
I've made some jokes to some friends recently about how I have been struggling to feel bad for basically any part of the US that is East of the Rockies because they've all been fucked with winter weather this year while this corner of the country is having some of the mildest winters on record.
But fuck, this summer is going to be really really horrible. I'd be surprised if WA and OR don't put a ban on any form of outdoor fire that isn't a controlled gas flame for cooking, like, tomorrow. Because given what the past 3 years have been like for this part of the country during Fire Season (which starts earlier and earlier every year now), we'll be lucky to get through summer of 2015 without developing smoke-inhalation-induced asthma, as the VERY minimum of the damage that results.
posted by hippybear at 1:07 AM on March 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
Last summer, there were fires in the eastern Cascades that were degrading air quality so badly with smoke in downwind cities 250 miles away that there were health warnings for weeks. And the air tasted funny. And there was a visible brown haze.
I've been watching the fires in the Cascades for the past few years, which have threatened towns, cut off entire communities from any contact with the outside world except for ham radio, filled occupied valleys with smoke so think you can barely see to drive, let alone breathe... This isn't "decades of bad fire management" sort of material, this is simply "the trees don't contain enough moisture and every lightning strike sets something ablaze" sort of stuff going on.
22% of normal. Less than 1/4 of the water the forests usually have to soak up during springtime thaw to keep the trees moist and healthy enough to resist bursting into flame at any small opportunity.
I've made some jokes to some friends recently about how I have been struggling to feel bad for basically any part of the US that is East of the Rockies because they've all been fucked with winter weather this year while this corner of the country is having some of the mildest winters on record.
But fuck, this summer is going to be really really horrible. I'd be surprised if WA and OR don't put a ban on any form of outdoor fire that isn't a controlled gas flame for cooking, like, tomorrow. Because given what the past 3 years have been like for this part of the country during Fire Season (which starts earlier and earlier every year now), we'll be lucky to get through summer of 2015 without developing smoke-inhalation-induced asthma, as the VERY minimum of the damage that results.
posted by hippybear at 1:07 AM on March 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
The irony of last summer for us was the one time we went camping was when it rained. All weekend. The rest of the summer was dry, but we had kind of lost the appetite for camping.
(This was just across the strait from Neah Bay)
posted by Nevin at 1:15 AM on March 6, 2015
(This was just across the strait from Neah Bay)
posted by Nevin at 1:15 AM on March 6, 2015
I've been pushing for all the camping trips I'm going on to be earlier rather than later. Insects might be worse earlier... but... if you're camping with a bunch of people, some of them "old friends just met", and you're not allowed to have a campfire to sit around and do that nighttime camping thing that is so iconic, then the campout doesn't really... I mean... it doesn't really work, does it?
(Probably a good a place as any to plug the OR/WA MeFi campout happening this June. If you're interested, attend! If you're not interested but live someplace that is within reach, please share the link with local contacts! We had a blast last summer, and this year should be equally awesome!)
posted by hippybear at 1:23 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
(Probably a good a place as any to plug the OR/WA MeFi campout happening this June. If you're interested, attend! If you're not interested but live someplace that is within reach, please share the link with local contacts! We had a blast last summer, and this year should be equally awesome!)
posted by hippybear at 1:23 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
They need to update the picture, and show Kentucky some love for their almost-2-frakking-feet-of-snow-all-at-once now on the ground.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:36 AM on March 6, 2015
posted by Thorzdad at 4:36 AM on March 6, 2015
Can I be first in with, "see, this totally proves there is no global warming."
posted by notreally at 8:30 PM on March 5 [+] [!]
-eponysterical
posted by MtDewd at 5:01 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by notreally at 8:30 PM on March 5 [+] [!]
-eponysterical
posted by MtDewd at 5:01 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
They need to update the picture, and show Kentucky some love for their almost-2-frakking-feet-of-snow-all-at-once now on the ground.
I'm pretty sure Milwaukee has less snow than that on the ground right now. It's really weird, because over the last few years, lots of snowstorms have been traveling south of Wisconsin. It has been unbearably cold the last two years though.
posted by drezdn at 5:06 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure Milwaukee has less snow than that on the ground right now. It's really weird, because over the last few years, lots of snowstorms have been traveling south of Wisconsin. It has been unbearably cold the last two years though.
posted by drezdn at 5:06 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Any Californians who would like some of the snow in my yard are welcome to come and take it. Bring your own shovel and snow transport.
posted by Anne Neville at 6:29 AM on March 6, 2015
posted by Anne Neville at 6:29 AM on March 6, 2015
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posted by Chuffy at 5:18 PM on March 5, 2015