NASA Show Scope of the Blizzard Jan 21, 2016

NASA Satellites

Show the Immense Scope of the Blizzard

About to Hit the East Coast

January 21, 2016

GOES Animation

of

January Blizzard 2016
VIDEO

A 21 second animation of infrared and visible imagery from NOAA's GOES-East satellite from Jan. 19 to 21 shows the movement one system that moved across the southern U.S. on Jan. 20 followed by a second storm system that is expected to bring the powerful winter storm to the Mid-Atlantic. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

There's a blizzard coming! Are you aware? If you live in the Northeast, you've likely heard some rumblings about it. Maybe because forecasts have predicted that some areas will be buried in up to 18 or even 24 inches of snow this weekend. That's the height of a small child. Yikes.

If you'd like to increase your anxiety levels even more so, NASA has you covered. The agency just released this awe-inducing picture, captured from space, showing immense Winter Storm Jonas headed toward the East Coast. The photo was taken with the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite — a probe operated jointly by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It shows the low pressure system over the south central United States before it's expected to make its way east.

NASA
Supercomputer Model Shows

The Flow of Blizzard 2016.
VIDEO

If that still image isn't enough to freeze your appendages prematurely, NASA also released a short animation of the storm's movements thus far, made using visual and infrared data from NOAA's GOES-East satellite. So if you're lucky enough to live on the East Coast, you can watch the storm slowly creep toward you, preparing to make its precipitative attack — all before you actually experience it on Saturday.