Beauty of Vancouver’s winter storm captured by Space Station
Posted December 22, 2022 1:00 pm.
While the winter storm that hit Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley earlier this week caused chaos on the ground, the vast beauty of the snow has been captured by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Japanese astronaut Wakata Koichi shared his photo on Twitter, showing the snow blanketing much of Metro Vancouver, the Sea-to-Sky region, and northern Washington state.
Beautiful winter view of Vancouver from the ISS when we flew over the city a few hours ago. pic.twitter.com/sdW0DRkGpx
— 若田光一 WAKATA Koichi (@Astro_Wakata) December 21, 2022
“Beautiful winter view of Vancouver from the ISS when we flew over the city a few hours ago,” Wakata wrote.
The region saw between 20 and 30 centimetres of snow overnight into Tuesday, and coupled with plunging temperatures due to Arctic winds, major disruptions have been felt at airports, on highways, and in transit systems.
It’s not the first time the west coast region has been captured from above; way, way above.
During the November 2021 flooding in B.C., a photo shared by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield caught the convergence of the Fraser River’s waters with the Strait of Georgia.
Fraser River flooding, from space. Amazing movement of topsoil into the sea. Stay safe, all. @NASA pic.twitter.com/k06r873PRa
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) November 17, 2021
The deep brown of the Fraser River is shown spreading far into the sea, carrying with it topsoil from upriver.
Wakata has been serving on the ISS Expedition since October.
