Savage Alpine Winter: Earth Image of the Week

NASA Image of Europe on January 12, 2009.

Both mountain snow cover and a blanket of heavy snow in the Piedmont and other lower elevations can be seen in this NASA image from January 12.

Some of the most bitter winter conditions in years plagued many areas of the Northern Hemisphere during the first half of January, especially much of Europe.

Heavy snowfall on January 6-7 halted rail transportation as far south as France's Cote d'Azur and Provence, and on many routes across the Alps. Frozen rail switches resulted in delays or cancellations of passenger trains in central Germany.

Nighttime temperatures plunged to as cold as minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34.6 degrees Celsius) at Bavaria’s Funtensee Lake.

Ice skaters were able to return to the freshly frozen rivers, canals and lakes of Holland in scenes reminiscent of times long before climate change mostly put an end to the country's traditional wintertime sport.

When NASA’s Terra Satellite passed over central Europe on Monday, January 12, it captured the sharp image to the right, which shows how expansive the snow cover was across the frozen heart of the continent.

Ice-free lakes appear in dark contrast to the otherwise snow-covered terrain of the Alps.

A thick blanket of snow is also clearly visible across the Piedmont and other areas of northern Italy, where the weight of the frozen precipitation caused roofs to collapse. In Milan, a 46-year-old man was killed when his roof fell in on him.

Italy’s Interior Ministry said that northern parts of the country had experienced 190 hours of snowfall since the beginning of November, compared to only 30 hours for the same period in 2007-2008 and no snow at all during the early part of winter in 2006-2007.

Image: NASA MODIS Rapid Response System