Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features blizzard conditions across the northeastern United States on Christmas Day 2022.

“A powerful Arctic cold front battered the Midwest and eastern U.S. in late-December 2022,” says NASA. “The storm brought blizzard conditions to some areas, life-threatening cold to others, and daunting amounts of lake-effect snow.” 

“As winds howled and snow piled up from what some forecasters called a ‘once-in-a-generation’ storm, so did the traffic accidents, power outages, and transportation woes.”

“Cloud streets over Lake Michigan hint at the powerful winds that accompanied the deadly storm.” 

According to data from the National Weather Service, wind gusts reached up to 79 miles per hour in Lackawanna, New York and exceeded 50 miles per hour in several other states.

“While snowfall totals generally stayed below 5 inches (13 centimeters) in most areas touched by the storm, lake-effect snow caused totals to surge above 50 inches in communities east of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in upstate New York – including Buffalo. In these areas, early winter storms are known for producing huge amounts of snow because the lakes often have not frozen over yet,” says NASA.

The image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. 

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

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