Weather animation from Google Earth - Alaska, Feb 2013

Global weather pattern animation. This is a cool animation from Google Earth which we spotted on the University of Alaska at Fairbanks website that shows weather patterns. It is not topical - this is a weather system from February 2013 - but interesting nonetheless because similar patterns are in play all the time.

The video is centered on Alaska. One thing you can say about Alaska - they get a lot of extreme weather. As you can see, Alaska is a prime weather spot where weather patterns develop that then descend upon North America. Standing back and seeing the whole picture like this is very useful in understanding a little more about how weather forecasts are made.

Unlike weather videos that you see on the news, this video covers an extended period: five weeks. Videos like this are only going to get better over time and provide a better understanding of how wherever you live is impacted by weather events that originate far away.

From youtube:

approx. 1 frame-per-hour captured over 5 weeks; Google Earth's radar and cloud layers. Missing image gaps are evident; future videos of this type will likely omit the stubbornly sticky radar layer...

2020