Southern States Frozen Over first appeared on NASA Earth Observatory and was written by Emily Cassidy.
A winter storm introduced below-freezing temperatures and heavy snow to the southeastern United States in January 2025. The storm dumped document snowfall on the area, prompting flight cancellations and the closure of greater than 200 miles (320 kilometers) of Interstate 10, in keeping with information experiences.
Temperatures plunged into the one digits in southern Texas and Louisiana on January 22, when an arctic airmass met with a low-pressure system over the Gulf Coast. The airport in Baton Rouge recorded a temperature of seven levels Fahrenheit (minus 14 levels Celsius), the lowest measured there in 95 years of document preserving.
Bands of winter climate introduced blizzard circumstances to southwestern Louisiana, a area unaccustomed to snow and ice. Wind gusts of 30 to 40 miles (50 to 65 kilometers) per hour accompanied the heavy snow and led to restricted visibility. A number of cities noticed all-time data for snow totals on January 22, together with New Orleans, Louisiana; Cellular, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida. About 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow fell in New Orleans and 5 inches (13 centimeters) in Pensacola.
Flakes continued to fall within the Carolinas and southeast Virginia on January 22, when the MODIS (Average Decision Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite tv for pc acquired this picture. Massive swaths of the Gulf Coast seem like a frozen tundra. Vivid white snow alongside the winding course of the Mississippi River stands out.
“Lots of the outdated river channels of the Mississippi might be seen within the picture,” stated Alex Kolker, a professor of coastal geology on the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. “In a delta like this, riverbanks are larger than different areas as a result of sediment was deposited right here over a few years. These lands amassed a little bit extra snow and present up brighter within the picture.”
The uncommon storm introduced extra snow to New Orleans than has fallen in Anchorage, Alaska, because the begin of meteorological winter, famous the Nationwide Climate Service. Chilly lingered within the south on the morning of January 23, and giant stretches of Interstate 10 have been nonetheless closed because of icy circumstances.
NASA Earth Observatory picture by Wanmei Liang, utilizing MODIS knowledge from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Emily Cassidy.
