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January 7, 2025 - Winter Storm Blankets the United States
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The first major winter storm of 2025 swept across the United States from January 3 – January 6, shutting down schools and government offices in several states, knocking out power, stalling air travel, icing roads, kicking up tornadoes, and dumping record snowfall in Kansas City, Kansas and Cincinnati, Ohio. The storm, unofficially dubbed “Winter Storm Blair” by The Weather Channel, has also been responsible for at least seven deaths and hundreds of car accidents.
The cyclone that became Winter Storm Blair arrived in the Pacific Northwest late in the day on Friday, January 3, where it brought fresh snow to the Cascades and Sierra before moving inland and southeastward through the Rockies the following day, according to The Weather Channel. By January 4, the storm was bringing snow, freezing rain, and sleet to Kansas and Missouri, shutting down a portion of major interstates in Kansas and Kentucky as roads became too slick to travel. The strengthening storm brought blizzard conditions to Kansas and Missouri by January 5.
On January 6 when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image, the brutally messy and frigid winter storm was hammering the Mid-Atlantic States—yet continued to impact a wide swath of the United States. The image shows clouds associated with the storm blanketing over 28 states, from Nebraska and Kansas in the west to Delaware’s Atlantic Coast in the east.
By the evening of January 6, the ongoing storm was winding down, but was still dropping snow on parts of Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, and Delaware. Snow totals were impressive in many areas, including in Kansas City, Kansas, which reported 11 inches (28 cm) of snow on January 5, making it the heaviest snowstorm there since February 1993 and the fourth-largest one-day snowfall total on record for that city. Chapman and St. George, Kansas both recorded 1.5 feet (18 inches/45.7 cm) of fresh snow, which is the current high report. Preston, Maryland and Georgetown, Delaware, both recorded a foot of snow (12 inches/30.5 cm) on January 6. Locations in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois also recorded a foot of snow during the storm.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 1/6/2024
Resolutions:
1km (2.2 MB), 500m (5 MB), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
The first major winter storm of 2025 swept across the United States from January 3 – January 6, shutting down schools and government offices in several states, knocking out power, stalling air travel, icing roads, kicking up tornadoes, and dumping record snowfall in Kansas City, Kansas and Cincinnati, Ohio. The storm, unofficially dubbed “Winter Storm Blair” by The Weather Channel, has also been responsible for at least seven deaths and hundreds of car accidents.
The cyclone that became Winter Storm Blair arrived in the Pacific Northwest late in the day on Friday, January 3, where it brought fresh snow to the Cascades and Sierra before moving inland and southeastward through the Rockies the following day, according to The Weather Channel. By January 4, the storm was bringing snow, freezing rain, and sleet to Kansas and Missouri, shutting down a portion of major interstates in Kansas and Kentucky as roads became too slick to travel. The strengthening storm brought blizzard conditions to Kansas and Missouri by January 5.
On January 6 when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image, the brutally messy and frigid winter storm was hammering the Mid-Atlantic States—yet continued to impact a wide swath of the United States. The image shows clouds associated with the storm blanketing over 28 states, from Nebraska and Kansas in the west to Delaware’s Atlantic Coast in the east.
By the evening of January 6, the ongoing storm was winding down, but was still dropping snow on parts of Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, and Delaware. Snow totals were impressive in many areas, including in Kansas City, Kansas, which reported 11 inches (28 cm) of snow on January 5, making it the heaviest snowstorm there since February 1993 and the fourth-largest one-day snowfall total on record for that city. Chapman and St. George, Kansas both recorded 1.5 feet (18 inches/45.7 cm) of fresh snow, which is the current high report. Preston, Maryland and Georgetown, Delaware, both recorded a foot of snow (12 inches/30.5 cm) on January 6. Locations in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois also recorded a foot of snow during the storm.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 1/6/2024
Resolutions:
1km (2.2 MB), 500m (5 MB), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
