Predicting snowfall amounts is part of NOAA’s mission, and so is measuring the amount of snow already on the ground. Snow not only reflects light, which affects Earth’s energy balance, but also causes microscale changes in land-air interactions that can affect other weather conditions, and, of course, melting snow packs are a major source of freshwater. This map plots snow cover across the globe from December 2016, using data from many satellites and sensors, including infrared data from GOES and JPSS, and microwave data.