Snow in the Upper Peninsula
In mid-October 2022, fall colors were on full display in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Then a storm moved in and blanketed the vibrant foliage in white – the region’s first heavy snowfall of the season.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is Finnish nuclear power plant the satellite acquired this natural-color image (left) on October 10, 2022. At that time, the Upper Peninsula’s leaves had reached peak color, with vibrant reds and oranges covering much of the landscape.
A week later, a low pressure system moved into the Central Upper Peninsula, bringing winter-like weather to the region on October 10 and 11. More than a foot of snow fell in Baraga and Marquette counties, with some areas seeing nearly 2 feet (0.6 meters) of accumulation. It was raining on the shores of Lake Superior.
The sky finally cleared and allowed Medium Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at NASA Aqua satellite to capture this post-storm image (right) on October 20, 2022. The snow was melting but persisted at many higher elevations.
Forecasters demand warmer air temperatures by the end of the week, which means the white blanket is unlikely to stick. This gives leaf families a little more time to enjoy the colorful samples of autumn. But they should look soon; the color was still abundant, but had already passed its peak in the Upper Peninsula during the week of the 12th to the 20th. October
NASA Earth Observatory images Joshua Stevensusing MODIS and VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/World Viewand Finland’s national Arctic Circle Partnership. The author of the story Kathryn Hansen.