A few days after one spring snowstorm blanketed the Northeastern United States, another storm streaked across the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic. Starting on March 23, that storm was notable for dropping a narrow band of snow with sharp, well-defined edges.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image on March 25, 2018. The narrow band of white was the result of a fast-moving, vigorous disturbance in the flow of the atmosphere, according to a story from The Washington Post . Areas with heavy snow cover stood just a few miles from areas with no snow at all.

The largest snowfall totals were measured in Northern Iowa and Southwest Virginia. In Mason City, Iowa, 45 centimeters (17.5 inches) were reported to have accumulated; areas near Meadows of Dan, Virginia, received 40 centimeters (16 inches). In Martinsville, Virginia, NASCAR racing events scheduled for March 25 were postponed due to accumulations there.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Jeff Schmaltz, using MODIS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.