This image of falling snowflakes was taken by the Snow Video Imager (SVI) at one of the auxiliary ground sites, the Steamshow Fairgrounds, 5 miles (8km) south of the main CARE site, during a light snowfall on Saturday, January 21. The SVI is set up about two feet off the ground and the snowflakes are falling from top to bottom through the frame. They can be seen here in different three-dimensional orientations at 5x magnification. In the top left corner and the center right, you can see two examples of classic six-sided dendrite snowflakes. The other flakes with crystals growing up and down

The TRMM satellite had a good view of powerful tropical cyclone Funso battering the Mozambique coast when it flew over on 23 January 2012 at 1451 UTC. TRMM data shows that Funso was dropping moderate to heavy rainfall in bands covering the Mozambique channel from eastern Mozambique to western Madagascar. Storms and floods from Funso have killed at least 22 people and forced tens of thousands from their homes in Mozambique. Tropical cyclone Funso formed in the Mozambique channel off the coast of Mozambique on 19 January 2012. The image above shows what TRMM saw on 21 January 2012 when Funso had

Walt Petersen is the Ground Validation Scientist for GPM, based at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. He manages all of GPM's ground validation operations including GCPEx, and today writes to us from the CARE site in Ontario. It is January 23rd and once again Mother Nature has shown us what she thinks of our field campaign plans…..and our ability to plan and execute based on a prediction of what she will throw our way. Kind of bizarre really; we came up here to sample strong Canadian snow storms, and today we ended up targeting a heavy rain event. Of course, we can plan -- as we did -- but

The GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) to measure falling snow is currently underway in Ontario, Canada. The field campaign, which runs from January 17 to February 29, 2012, is designed to improve satellite estimates of falling snow and test ground validation capabilities for GPM. Learn more about GCPEx: Airborne Campaign to Measure Falling Snow (press release) GCPEx Overview GCPEx Campaign Blog Ground Validation Image Gallery GPM on Twitter GPM on Facebook

Gail Skofronick-Jackson is the Deputy Project Scientist for GPM at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She specializes in the remote sensing of snow, and is currently in Bangor, Maine where the DC-8 airborne research laboratory is stationed for the GCPEx campaign. She wrote to us over the weekend about Saturday's flight to get background measurements from no-snow conditions. Interior of the DC-8 plane. Look at all that legroom! Credit: NASA / Gail Skofronick-Jackson Today we are taking a short flight to measure surface information over our GCPEx field campaign region. It is important