[NASA] Snow Buries Kamchatka

[SpaceMan 0]

Earth Observatory

1. This is the hidden content, please

   • Sign In
   • or
   • Sign Up
2. This is the hidden content, please

   • Sign In
   • or
   • Sign Up
3. Snow Buries Kamchatka

• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
• Topics
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
• More Content
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
• About
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
  • This is the hidden content, please

    • Sign In
    • or
    • Sign Up
• This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up

 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

January 17, 2026

It has been an eventful few months for the Northern Hemisphere atmosphere. An unusually early

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

episode in late November appears to have factored into a weakened and distorted

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

at times in December, likely causing extra waviness in the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. This helped fuel extensive intrusions of frigid air into the mid-latitudes, contributing to cold snaps in

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, and priming the atmosphere for disruptive winter storms in January.

Russia’s

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

has been among the areas hit hard by cold and snowy weather in December and January. More than 2 meters (7 feet) of snow fell in the first two weeks of January, following 3.7 meters in December, according to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. Together, these totals make it one of the snowiest periods the peninsula has seen since the 1970s,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to Kamchatka’s Hydrometeorology Center. The onslaught brought Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital, to a standstill, with reports of large snowdrifts burying cars and blocking access to buildings and infrastructure.

This image, acquired by the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

(Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA’s

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

satellite, shows fresh snow blanketing the peninsula’s rugged terrain on January 17, 2026. Several circular, snow-covered volcanic peaks are visible across the peninsula, one of the most

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

s in the world. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, home to more than 160,000 people, sits along Avacha Bay—a deep, sheltered bay formed by a combination of tectonic, volcanic, and glacial activity.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 and 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 Story by Adam Voiland.

Downloads

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

January 17, 2026

JPEG (3.43 MB)

References & Resources

• AccuWeather (2026, January 20)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed January 21, 2026.
• Cohen, J. (2026, January 19)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed January 21, 2026.
• Manney, G. L., et al. (2022) 
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  .” Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL097617.
• The Moscow Times (2026, January 19)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed January 21, 2026.
• NASA (2024, January 30)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed January 21, 2026.
• Reuters (2026, January 21)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed January 21, 2026.
• UPI (2026, January 20)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed January 21, 2026.
• The Watchers (2026, January 18)
  This is the hidden content, please

  • Sign In
  • or
  • Sign Up
  . Accessed January 21, 2026.

You may also be interested in:

Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

3 min read

The peninsula in eastern Siberia features rugged terrain with towering, snow-covered peaks and cloud-filled valleys stretching between the Pacific Ocean…

Article

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

5 min read

Winds, waves, and ice near a remote town on the Chukchi Peninsula have sculpted a series of coastal inshore lagoons…

Article

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

3 min read

A short-lived storm dropped some of the largest accumulations in decades on Australia’s Northern Tablelands.

Article

1

2

3

4
Next

Keep Exploring

Discover More from NASA Earth Science

Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Earth Observatory Image of the Day

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Explore Earth Science

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Earth Science Data

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up