February 17, 2021 - Snow in Italy

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   Snow in Italy
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   Italy wore a white “racing stripe” of snow on February 15, 2021, when
   the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
   NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the winter scene.

   Temperatures have taken a tumble over the last week as a frigid chill
   accompanied by snow and wind settled over Italy. Clear skies on
   February 11 gave way to cloud and a temperature drop of 8-10 degrees as
   a mass of Arctic air poured into the Mediterranean Basin. When the
   cloud cover cleared on February 15 a broad band of snow coated the
   Apennines along the spine of Italy as well as the Alps, in the north.

   Snow aficionados know Italians (and tourists) throng to the slopes when
   the white stuff falls. But that’s not the case this year. Many ski
   resorts across Italy were eyeing a February 15 opening after a being
   shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But on February 14, thanks once
   again to COVID-19 health concerns, the health minister signed a measure
   that closed slopes to recreational skiing until March 5. This time the
   concerns are due to a rapidly-spreading variant of the virus first
   found in the United Kingdom. The British variant, as it has been
   called, now makes up 17.8 percent of the cases in Italy.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 2/15/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (115.7 KB),  500m (408.6 KB),  250m (1.2 MB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-02-17
 
