# Current snow cover **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 17, 2021, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110 "2021-02-17T10:03:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/1 "2021-02-17T10:03:32Z")
This is pretty amazing. Damn near the entire country. But what’s up with that non-snow covered area in North and South Dakota? [![](https://s.w-x.co/staticmaps/WEB_Snow_Cover_1280x720.jpg?crop=16:9&width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=60) ](https://s.w-x.co/staticmaps/WEB_Snow_Cover_1280x720.jpg?crop=16:9&width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=60) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/2 "2021-02-17T10:57:23Z")
It’s Nature’s way of saying, “So long, and thanks…” Meanwhile, in Southern and Central California, snowpack is 30% below average, presaging another destructive fire season ahead. Fuck me… Stranger ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/3 "2021-02-17T11:43:33Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > But what’s up with that non-snow covered area in North and South Dakota? Maybe that’s the snowstorm equivalent of the eye of the hurricane. There’s a lot of magenta-purple-white to the west / southwest of them in that screenshot, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up getting clobbered too. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/4 "2021-02-17T12:00:55Z")
Pretty wild how the snow just stops at the international borders. Didn’t Canada get snow at all this year? Maybe they outlawed it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/5 "2021-02-17T13:10:04Z")
That’s what comes from being nice. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/6 "2021-02-17T13:57:06Z")
I live approximately 100 miles due north of where the Montana/North Dakota border intersects the Canada/US border. No shortage of snow here. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/7 "2021-02-17T14:13:28Z")
I think the snow map is just the United States. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/8 "2021-02-17T16:26:38Z")
Here is the official **[National Weather Service snow info sub-site](https://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/)**. Wherefrom you can learn all sorts of stuff about snow and see all sorts of maps of past, current, and forecast snow conditions. Always get your weather info from the real experts, not the sensationalist shills on Weather Channel or OG forbid, some other TV station or site. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/9 "2021-02-17T21:03:03Z")
(((NOTICE))) Someone came south and lost their snow. I found it. Come back and retrieve your property. Kindly describe it. white, cold and deep ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/10 "2021-02-18T04:30:39Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > But what’s up with that non-snow covered area in North and South Dakota? Or maybe there’s so much that the sensors are rogered. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/11 "2021-02-18T04:41:42Z")
I’m in a blue zone. Ain’t no snow; ain’t no snow predicted. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/12 "2021-02-18T05:23:54Z")
See that big, white knife blade on the eastern edge of California? It stops _just about_ 10 miles short of where we need it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/13 "2021-02-18T05:25:18Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > white, cold and deep All I got was my wife with the Humanities Degree. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/14 "2021-02-18T20:19:41Z")
Nah. There’s only so much snow to go around, and with international travel restrictions due to Covid these days, the snow just stopped at the border. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/15 "2021-02-18T21:54:41Z")
In maps like this, why the hell can’t they get the colors in an orderly progression? Why does it jump from teal to purple to magenta to white? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/16 "2021-02-18T22:08:02Z")
Yeah, this is kind of odd. It seems like there’s three hue centers: one of the teal, one of the purple, and one of the pink/magenta, and they seem to go light teal, medium teal, dark teal, then the same light-to-dark with the purples, and then the magenta/pink are inverted, with the lighter pink color denoting more snowfall than the darker magenta one. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-snow-cover/933110/17 "2021-02-22T12:58:21Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Why does it jump from teal to purple to magenta to white? Because it’s prettier, silly! 👌