February 2010 Snow Depth

In early February, two weather systems brought record snowfalls to Washington, D.C., and other parts of the U.S. mid-Atlantic region. This image shows the depth of snow that had accumulated at locations across the contiguous United States as of February 11, 2010.

As snow on the ground eventually turns to water in streams, rivers, and lakes, NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center makes daily estimates of snow depth. The Center uses ground-based, airborne, and satellite observations as well as results from numerical models to produce images, animations, and other data that can help resource managers understand how much water is stored in the snowpack.

Ironically, even as residents in and around Washington, D.C., experienced record-high snowfall totals, the 2010 Winter Olympics site in British Columbia, Canada, dealt with a deficit of snowfall. Organizers of the Olympics resorted to using trucks and helicopters to transport snow to the slopes in order to prepare them for skiing and snowboarding competitions.

NOAA’s Climate Scene Investigators are currently compiling data and analyzing information in an attempt to attribute the anomalous conditions in both locations to their causes. For more information, see the ClimateWatch article, CSI: NOAA Climate Scene Investigators.

Data courtesy of NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center.