While spring was springing across much of the Northern Hemisphere, California’s Sierra Nevada still looked very much like winter in early May 2024.
While spring was springing across much of the Northern Hemisphere, California’s Sierra Nevada still looked very much like winter in early May 2024. A weather station at Donner Pass measured 26.4 inches (67 centimeters) of snowfall on May 5, marking the snowiest day there in the 2023-2024 season.
The system of wet weather had mostly cleared the area when the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired an image (right) of the snowy Sierras at 11 a.m. local time (18:00 Universal Time) on May 5. An image from May 3 (left) shows the region before the storm moved through. The images are false-color (bands 7-2-1) to distinguish the snow (blue) from the clouds (white).
The blast of snow created treacherous driving conditions and caused highway closures in the Lake Tahoe area, including Interstate 80 over Donner Summit, according to news reports. Elsewhere in the mountain range, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area reported receiving 10 inches (25 centimeters) of new snow in the storm, and Yosemite Valley dazzled in a fresh coat of white.
Read more at NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: sergei_spas via Pixabay
