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January 19, 2026 - Snow Blankets France Ahead of Storm Goretti
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The first snowfall of 2026 left Paris and much of France shimmering under a blanket of white on January 6, 2026. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of the wintery scene on that same day.
In this image, the city of Paris can be seen near the upper right corner as a large gray circular area at the edge of a bank of clouds. Snow stretches westward over France and reaches the English Channel, covering almost all the land with the exception of some coastal regions.
The January 5 snowstorm that blanketed France was a wind-up to Storm Goretti, a significant storm that pummeled portions of Northern and Western Europe between January 6 and 10. The seventh-named storm of the 2025-2026 European Windstorm Season, Goretti formed on January 6 and was named by Meteo France on that day.
On January 9, at its height, the storm brought severe winds, heavy snowfall, frigid temperatures, and widespread power outages across a swath centered on Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport cancelled more than 800 flights and Hamburg Airport cancelled at least 40, according to media reports. Schools were closed across the region, including many located in Scotland due to the extreme weather. The website Global Climate Risks reported that approximately 380,000 households in northwestern and northern France lost power at the height of the storm. Other media outlets reported at least 15 storm related deaths, with one in the United Kingdom.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 1/6/2026
Resolutions:
1km (384.5 KB), 500m (1 MB), 250m (1.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
The first snowfall of 2026 left Paris and much of France shimmering under a blanket of white on January 6, 2026. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of the wintery scene on that same day.
In this image, the city of Paris can be seen near the upper right corner as a large gray circular area at the edge of a bank of clouds. Snow stretches westward over France and reaches the English Channel, covering almost all the land with the exception of some coastal regions.
The January 5 snowstorm that blanketed France was a wind-up to Storm Goretti, a significant storm that pummeled portions of Northern and Western Europe between January 6 and 10. The seventh-named storm of the 2025-2026 European Windstorm Season, Goretti formed on January 6 and was named by Meteo France on that day.
On January 9, at its height, the storm brought severe winds, heavy snowfall, frigid temperatures, and widespread power outages across a swath centered on Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport cancelled more than 800 flights and Hamburg Airport cancelled at least 40, according to media reports. Schools were closed across the region, including many located in Scotland due to the extreme weather. The website Global Climate Risks reported that approximately 380,000 households in northwestern and northern France lost power at the height of the storm. Other media outlets reported at least 15 storm related deaths, with one in the United Kingdom.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 1/6/2026
Resolutions:
1km (384.5 KB), 500m (1 MB), 250m (1.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
