Stripes of Snow in the Plains and Upper Midwest

By the second half of November, snow becomes more common across the Plains and Upper Midwest as arctic air masses from Canada dive farther south into the U.S. When snow-producing weather systems depart and the sun returns, we can often see a fresh coating of white on the ground from weather satellites circling high above Earth.

On November 18, 2018, the NOAA-20 satellite's VIIRS instrument captured this true-color image of two intersecting bands of snow cover: one stripe stretches across Nebraska, Iowa and northern Illinois, while a larger stripe covers southern Minnesota, north-central Iowa and southern Wisconsin. The contrast between snow and area waterways makes it easy to see the meandering path of the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries. Higher snow accumulations appear brighter white, while clouds can be seen in the upper and lower portions of the image.

According to the National Weather Service forecast office in Des Moines, Iowa , widespread snow totals of 2 to 4 inches fell across the state last weekend, as a fast-moving weather system called an Alberta Clipper zipped across the Plains on November 16-17, 2018.

While temperatures have since turned milder over the Plains, NOAA's Weather Prediction Center expects bitterly cold air and well below-normal temperatures to reach the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S. for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

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