Two Cool Satellite Photos, One Of Them For Us In Vermont

A satellite view of the Pacific Ocean Friday shows
two graceful looking storms and a giant number 7
between British Columbia and Alaska's Aleutian Islands. 

 I'm always fascinated by satellite photos showing how clouds behave, and how the landscape below the clouds change with the season, or change with different weather.  

There's two cool examples here. 

LUCKY #7

The first was taken Friday over the Pacific Ocean. The two storm are interesting enough as they are. 

Both of them - one off the California coast, another larger one northwest of Hawaii, feature two graceful cold fronts hanging south and southwestward from the  main storm. 

As you can see, most of the northern Pacific Ocean is cloudy in the photo, except for the giant number 7 shaped area of clear skies. That's what everybody honed in on the most. It didn't signify any particular weather, other than a gap between storms, but it was a pretty unusual pattern nonetheless. 

The storm to the right of the seven looks vaguely like a six, so I guess the Pacific Ocean was in a 76 mood on Friday. Whatever that means.  Seventy-six more storms to hit the West Coast before spring? California certainly hopes not. 

BIRD'S EYE VIEW, END OF WINTER 

Visible satellite photo from Saturday afternoon shows
an unseasonable lack of show in the valleys of 
western Vermont, not a great snow cover elsewhere,
and if you look closely, very little ice in the lakes. 

The second photo is much closer to home. It was taken Saturday afternoon, a rare crystal clear day during such an overcast winter. 

Again click on the photo to make it bigger and easier to see. 

First, you can see the paltry snow cover for this time of year in and around Vermont. 

The Champlain Valley and the southeastern tip of Vermont are devoid of snow.   The snow does cover most of the rest of Vermont, but it looks weak, like there's plenty of bare spots in the low elevations.

Ice on Lake Champlain should be peaking by now, but it still shows dark blue in the visible satellite photo, indicating a serious lack of ice. 

You can also see the eastern end of Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes in western New York. a fairly big chunk of Lake Winnipesaukee (SP) in New Hamphire and Sebago Lake in Maine all free of ice.

The only parts of the satellite photo that looks normal for this time of year is north of the St. Lawrence River in Canada. There, we see frozen lakes and what appears to be a pretty substantial snow cover. 

The lame snow cover in New England should retreat further this week during yet another expected warm spell. Following a brief return to winter Thursday and Friday, more premature spring weather seems due.