Snowstorm in Western US

Winter storms spread snow cover across multiple states in in early December 2011. Icy conditions prompted authorities to shut down a 40-mile (60-kilometer) stretch of interstate highway between eastern Colorado and western Kansas, according to news reports. After the snow departed, frigid conditions took hold in eastern Colorado, The Denver Post reported.

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The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired these natural-color images on December 6, 2011 (top), and November 27, 2011 (bottom). (NASA images courtesy LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott)

In late November, snow cover is largely confined to the Rocky Mountains. Nine days later, snow cover spreads eastward across the plains to Nebraska. Snow also blankets northern New Mexico, and parts of Texas and Oklahoma. The snow in this region resulted from a larger storm system that extended to the Great Lakes region, Reuters reported. The system brought some of the first significant snowfall of the season to the central United States. (EarthObservatory)