Views of Earth from space are typically amazing, but this view from the GOES-East weather satellite is just hypnotic, showing a top view of the powerful snowstorm over the northeastern United States Wednesday (March 7).
The short animation shows convective clouds in motion as the storm, a nor'easter, dumped more than a foot of snow on some parts of the northeastern states. [Amazing Earth Photos by GOES-16 ]
"Check out these convective clouds: NOAA's #GOESEast satellite got a nice close-up of today's #noreaster bringing heavy snow (and #thundersnow) to the Northeast U.S.," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) wrote in a Twitter post. NOAA oversees the GOES-East satellite mission.
Convective clouds are cumulus clouds formed by the heating of the ground by the sun, according to Live Science, Space.com's sister site. Thundersnow occurs when a winter thunderstorm brings snow instead of rain.
In the short animation, the clouds undulate and ripple as if alive as GOES-East looks on. It's an example of the beauty that comes with some of Earth's stormy fury.
Here are a few more views from GOES-East (also known as GOES-16) from NOAA and NASA:
The GOES-East satellite launched in 2016 as the first of a pair of advanced weather-tracking satellites. Its partner, GOES-S, launched into space March 1 and will be known as GOES-17 and GOES-West when it enters operation. GOES is short for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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