November 23, 2015 - Snow across the southern Canadian plain

Snow across the southern Canadian plain

The first substantial snow of winter covered the southern Canadian plains in mid-November 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on November 12 as it passed over the scene.

The snow stretched across southern Alberta (west), Saskatchewan, and part of Manitoba (each). Forecasters had called for up to 8 inches (200 mm) of accumulation in some areas. These snows were just the start of the season, however. On November 19 a low pressure crossing the prairies had dumped more snow and was causing travel woes in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, according to The Weather Network. Several roads were reported to be snow-covered, including parts of the Trans-Canada Highway and strong, gusty wind contributed to poor conditions. A 17-car pileup in Winnipeg was blamed on the icy road conditions.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/12/2015
Resolutions: 1km (259 KB), 500m (988.9 KB), 250m (2.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC