Provided by: NOAA

Summary authors & editors: Jim Foster

The above map shows the Northern Hemisphere snow and ice cover as of mid February (February 13). The hemispheric snow cover this year is close to February's 30- year mean, about 42 million square kilometers. For North America, there's slightly less snow than normal in the Mid Atlantic area, but slightly more snow than normally expected in the central plains. For Eurasia, there's less snow than normal in the southern steppes (north and east of the Black Sea). Most of the large inland water bodies are now nearly completely ice covered. Only the US Great Lakes (except Erie) and the Caspian Sea are largely ice free. Notice that sea ice extends down to 45 degrees north latitude in the western Pacific Ocean (Sea of Okhotsk).

Related Links: