A winter storm system developed over Texas then tracked eastward, slowly at first, across the southern tier states Thursday, January 28th through early Sunday, January 31st, bringing widespread snowfall, freezing rain, and areas of flooding rainfall. As the system moved further east it picked up speed, reducing flooding. A modified Arctic air mass that was previously laid down over the eastern United States allowed much of the precipitation to fall as frozen or freezing precipitation as the system pushed eastward. A combination of a low over the Canadian Maritimes feeding dry air southward and high pressure moving through the Great Lakes sharply limited the northern extent of snow. In the wake of the system, a cold, dry airmass accompanying high pressure built into the area and cleared the skies, which allowed the accompanying visible satellite photograph to be captured of the swath of snow from Oklahoma to the Carolinas.

Click on any of the images for a larger view.