Image of the Day - Satellite Image of a Snow Free South Dakota

Prolonged Periods of Unsettled Weather into Early Next Week

Showers and thunderstorms with heavy rainfall, with a few thunderstorms being severe, are expected over portions of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic States through Monday. Across the Rockies and Intermountain West, a storm system will bring showers, thunderstorms and high elevation snow.

The image below is a 1000m resolution, "true color" image from the MODIS satellite valid today - 1 February 2012. A couple interesting features noted on the image are described below:

Areas in "brown" are predominantly void of snow. As such - a vast majority of South Dakota is completely snow free! Obviously, this is quite rare for the 1st of February.
The "brown ground" is able to absorb much more solar energy, which allows temperatures to warm. This is a major reason why temperatures have remained above normal.
Residual areas of snowcover (white) are confined to the Black Hills region in western South Dakota and the Glacial Lakes region in northeastern South Dakota.
A large section of Lake Oahe north of Pierre is free of ice (dark blue color). Again, very rare for early February.

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Prolonged Periods of Unsettled Weather into Early Next Week

Image of the Day - Satellite Image of a Snow Free South Dakota