Earth  ID: 4278

GPM Observes Snow Storm over Kentucky, West Virginia, and North Carolina (Feb. 17, 2015)

Visualizations by Kel Elkins Released on February 26, 2015
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Animation depicting a snowstorm over Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. A slicing plane reveals the inside of the storm, showing where the precipitation switches from rain (yellow, green, and red) to snow and ice (light blue and purple).
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Satellite captured a 3-D image of a winter storm on Feb. 17 that left six to 12 inches of snow over much of Kentucky, southwestern West Virginia, and northwestern North Carolina. The shades of blue in the 3-D image indicate rates of snowfall with more intense snowfall shown in darker blue. Underneath where it melts into rain, the most intense rainfall is shown in red. You can see a lot of variation in precipitation types over the Southeastern portion of the United States.

The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments that show the location and intensity of rain and snow, which defines a crucial part of the storm structure – and how it will behave. The GPM Microwave Imager sees through the tops of clouds to observe how much and where precipitation occurs, and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar observes precise details of precipitation in 3-dimensions.

GPM data is part of the toolbox of satellite data used by forecasters and scientists to understand how storms behave. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Current and future data sets are available with free registration to users from NASA Goddard's Precipitation Processing Center website.

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Color bar for frozen precipitation rates (eg, snow rates). Shades of cyan represent low amounts of frozen precipitation, whereas shades of purple represent high amounts of precipitation.
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Color bar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation.
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Print resolution still showing the Feb 17th, 2015 snowstorm over Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina (depicted using GPM/GMI precipitation measurements and DPR data)
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Print resolution still showing GPM/GMI precipitation measurements and DPR data for the storm
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Print resolution still of a slicing plane revealing the storm’s inner volumetric rain and snow rates.
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Print resolution still of a slicing plane revealing the storm’s inner volumetric rain and snow rates.
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Print resolution still depicting a side view of the storm with a slicing plane revealing volumetric rain and snow rates.

Visualization Credits

Kel Elkins (USRA):
Lead Animator

Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.):
Animator

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC):
Animator

Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA):
Lead Producer

Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC):
Producer
Writer

Gail Skofronick Jackson (NASA/GSFC):
Lead Scientist

Dalia B Kirschbaum (NASA/GSFC):
Lead Scientist

George Huffman (NASA/GSFC):
Lead Scientist

Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.):
Lead Project Support

Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.):
Project Support

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4278

Mission:
Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)

Data Used:
GPM/GMI/Surface Precipitation also referred to as: Rain Rates
2/17/2015 01:56:41 - 02:01:39Z
Credit:
Data provided by the joint NASA/JAXA GPM mission.
view all stories where this data set is used
GPM/DPR/Ku also referred to as: Volumetric Precipitation data
Observed Data - JAXA - 2/17/2015 01:41:28 - 02:11:27Z
Credit:
Data provided by the joint NASA/JAXA GPM mission.
view all stories where this data set is used
GOES/IR4
2/15/2015 00:00:00Z - 2/17/2015 02:00:00Z
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
GPM Animations

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
DLESE >> Cryology
SVS >> HDTV
DLESE >> Natural hazards
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Snow/Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation >> Precipitation Rate
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation >> Snow
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0