Heavy Snow in Eastern China Seen from Space

Some 2 million schoolchildren in the Beijing region enjoyed an extra day off at New Year’s in January 2010. Up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow fell on the capital city of Beijing and port city of Tianjin, closing schools, clogging roads, and canceling flights.

Although not bad as the 2008 freeze that ruined travel plans for millions of Chinese trying to visit family for the lunar new year, this snowstorm was described as the heaviest snow to fall on Beijing in almost 60 years.

Heavy Snow in Eastern China Seen from Space. Credit: NASA

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image on January 4, 2010. Snow cover circles Bo Hai and extends to the north and west of that water body. Snow also covers Beijing, Tianjin, and a constellation of smaller settlements. The large cities leave big gray splotches on the blanket of snow, and the smaller cities make small gray dots. Snow caps the mountains north and west of Beijing, but the snow cover gradually fades southwest of Beijing and Tianjin.

Cloud streets—clouds arranged in neat rows—similar to those that have appeared over Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes float over Bo Hai.