Day 38: East Coast Blizzard Aftermath
I know that I mentioned I’d discuss the possible Oklahoma snowstorm today, but the storm is continuing to look less and less impressive. Plus, when I saw the image below, I knew I had to use it for today’s image.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image on 7 February 2010. Notice how snow blankets the area (all the white over land). However, along the latitude of New York City, NY snow cover thins considerably. Also of note are the white speckled clouds over the Atlantic Ocean. This is the result of the cold air rushing southward in the wake of the departing low-pressure. As the cold air moves over the relatively warm waters of the Gulf Stream Current cold air cumulus develop. (This has to do with the decrease in static stability with cold being above warm. I’ll leave it at that… 
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About Patrick
Patrick Marsh is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology. He earned a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and Physics (cum laude) from the University of Arkansas in 2005 and a Masters of Science in Meteorology in 2007. In addition to working on his doctorate, Patrick serves as the National Severe Storms Laboratory Liaison to the Hazardous Weather Testbed where his research interests lie in working with operational forecasters, data mining, data visualization, and all things high-impact weather. For more about Patrick's work, check out his complete CV!
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