Image description: A Sun Dog in Denali National Park in Alaska.

A Sun Dog is a ring of light that is sometimes visible around the sun when light is refracted through ice crystals.

Photo from the National Park Service

Image description: The satellite image, captured today at 9:01 a.m. EST, shows clouds associated with the western frontal system stretching from Canada through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, into the Gulf of Mexico.

The comma-shaped low pressure system located over the Atlantic, east of Virginia, is forecast to merge with the front and create a powerful nor’easter. The National Weather Service expects the merged storm to move northeast and drop between two to three feet of snow in parts of New England.

Photo from NASA.

Stay safe in severe winter weather with these tips from Ready.gov.

Image description:

From NOAA Visualizations:

A drop in the jet stream sent temperatures across the United States plummeting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend. The pronounced change in temperatures can be seen in this weather data from NOAA/NCEP’s Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis. Areas colored blue are below freezing. The diurnal cycle of heating and cooling can be seen over time, but the pattern is clear: much of the U.S. is pretty cold.