File:Snow around Moscow (MODIS 2018-02-12).jpg

English: An unusually warm and snow-free winter came to a very abrupt end in early February 2018 when a strong storm dropped a record amount of snow on Moscow, Russia. The storm unloaded 17 inches (43.2 cm) of snow on the city by February 4, with 7 inches (17.8 cm) falling in 24 hours, matching a heaviest daily accumulation record set in 1957.

More than 100 flights were cancelled, more than 45,000 people in the immediate area were without power, and five people died in the storm, according to news media reports. The blanket of white wasn’t limited to Moscow, but also spread more than 500 miles, knocking out additional power and causing travel disruptions as far as 500 miles away from Russia’s capital city.

On February 6, 2018, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of snow blanketing the region around Moscow. The brightly reflective area in the north is Rybinsk Reservoir which sits about 200 miles (319 km) north of Moscow. While large cities are typically easily seen as gray pixels in true-color images, it is difficult to pick out the city in this view. The heavy, fresh, snow cover likely contributes to this difficulty.