It has been an eventful few months for the Northern Hemisphere atmosphere. An unusually early sudden stratospheric warming<\/a> episode in late November appears to have factored into a weakened and distorted polar vortex<\/a> at times in December, likely causing extra waviness in the polar jet stream<\/a>. This helped fuel extensive intrusions of frigid air into the mid-latitudes, contributing to cold snaps in North America<\/a>, Europe<\/a>, and Asia<\/a>, and priming the atmosphere for disruptive winter storms in January.<\/p>\n Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula<\/a> has been among the areas hit hard by cold and snowy weather in December and January. More than 2 meters (7 feet) of snow fell in the first two weeks of January, following 3.7 meters in December, according to news reports<\/a>. Together, these totals make it one of the snowiest periods the peninsula has seen since the 1970s, according<\/a> to Kamchatka\u2019s Hydrometeorology Center. The onslaught brought Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital, to a standstill, with reports of large snowdrifts burying cars and blocking access to buildings and infrastructure.<\/p>\n This image, acquired by the MODIS<\/a> (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA\u2019s Aqua<\/a> satellite, shows fresh snow blanketing the peninsula’s rugged terrain on January 17, 2026. Several circular, snow-covered volcanic peaks are visible across the peninsula, one of the most volcanically active area<\/a>s<\/a> in the world. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, home to more than 160,000 people, sits along Avacha Bay\u2014a deep, sheltered bay formed by a combination of tectonic, volcanic, and glacial activity.<\/p>\n NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0EOSDIS LANCE<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0GIBS\/Worldview.<\/a>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em> <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/esd\/eo\/images\/iotd\/2026\/snow-buries-kamchatka\/kamchatkasnow_amo_20260117_lrg.jpg?w=1673&h=1859&fit=clip&crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\")
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