Desperately Seeking a Snow Day: Why So Little Snow in 2012?

By Nancy Atkinson - January 20, 2012 at 12:08 AM UTC | Planetary Science

Ah, for the days of

Snowmageddon

and Snowpocalypse back in 2010 and 2011. So far, 2012 is turning out to be a dud as far as getting a snow day or two off from work or school. Even though the Pacific Northwest in the US just got a major snowstorm, on the whole the US isn't seeing much snowfall this winter. Why such a difference in just one year? In this ScienceCast, JPL climatologist Bill Patzert explains what's going on.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com