MODIS corresponding snow map of Europe, 30 January 2004.
Terra MODIS true color image and corresponding snow map of Italy on the 30th of January 2004.
MODIS corresponding snow map of Europe, 30 January 2004.
The huge storms that battered western Turkey during the last week of January 2004 also hit large portions of Europe, including Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. In this true-color Terra MODIS image from January 30, the Alps and lower lands of France and Germany are almost completely snow-covered. In a few valleys in Italy's southern-facing Alps, bare ground shows through like winding brown ribbons, leading to the large, mostly snow-free northern plains.
But where these areas were relatively snow-free, many of the mountains of peninsular Italy were blanketed. The two ranges of mountains highlighted by the snowy stripe following Italy's spine are the Appeninno Tosco Emiliano (upper) and the Appeninno Abruzzese (lower). Two lakes stand out against the snow; they are the Lago Trasimeno (blue-green) and the Lago di Bolsena (almost black). The smaller Lago di Bracciano is just a few kilometers southeast of Bolsena, about halfway between Bolsena and the city of Rome. Snow even collected on the upper peaks of the mountains of Corsica (image center) and Sardinia (bottom center).
Text courtesy of NASA's MODIS Land Rapid Response Team.