In this monthly feature, we span the globe to examine Our Changing Landscape with a time series of medium-resolution PlanetScope satellite imagery. The PlanetScope constellation dates back to 2016 and collects hundreds of millions of square kilometers of four and eight-band 3-meter imagery daily! In March, we were awed by the November 2024 eruption of Mt. Lewotobi Lake-laki, which is located on the island of Flores in Indonesia. For the April edition of this series, we check out the January 2025 historical snowfall in Kansas City here in the USA.
Click on the image above to see an animation of 3-meter natural color PlanetScope image collected over the Kansas City metro area on January 1 and 6, 2025. And wow what a difference a few days makes as before this massive blizzard, the region was snow free – but that was definitely not the case on January 6th as you can see a thick blanket of white snow covering Kansas City, burr! (Images Courtesy: © Planet 2025)The PlanetScope Microsat Constellation
PlanetScope is a constellation of more than 240 microsats referred to individually as Doves. Each Dove is able to collect up to 20,000 square kilometers (sq km) per day of 3-meter (m) 4-band multispectral (i.e. blue, green, red and near-infrared [NIR]) imagery; and newly launched SuperDoves collect 8-band multispectral adding in valuable red-edge spectral data. Across the constellation, PlanetScope is archiving more than 200 million sq km of medium-resolution imagery a day, making it the go to source for daily imagery over most locations. This massive archive dates back to 2016, offering the most complete and continuous record of spatial data on the planet since the start of the constellation’s ongoing launch schedule. Collecting 3-meter multispectral imagery is the equivalent of ‘high-resolution’ multispectral data imaged by a 75-centimer (cm) satellite (as this satellite would feature 75-cm panchromatic and 3-m multispectral), making PlanetScope an extremely competitively priced option at just $2.25 per sq km. With well registered images and nearly daily collections of most locations, PlanetScope is the ideal imagery source for this current-events focused series, Our Changing Landscape.
January 2025 Historical Snowfall In Kansas City
Just four days after the new year, the Kansas City metro area, which spans both Kansas (KS) and Missouri (MO), was hit with a snowstorm that brought the most snow the area had seen in at least 30 years. First, ice covered K.C., then the snow moved in followed by extremely cold temperatures with wind chills ranging from -15 to -20°F.
In fact, it was in 1993 when Kansas City last saw 10.5 inches fall. The final snowfall total Sunday, January 5, at Kansas City International Airport was 11 inches, which broke the previous record for that date of 10.1 inches set in 1962, according to the National Weather Service. The snowfall was also Kansas City’s fourth largest single-day snowfall on record, dating back to 1888. The top 3 were 16.1 inches on March 23, 1912, and 11.8 inches on both Jan. 18, 1962 and Feb. 27, 1900.
It is extremely rare for the metro to have more than 10 inches of snow on a single day. Before Sunday, it only happened seven other times during the city’s 137 years of recorded weather history, according to The Kansas City Star.
Atchison, KS took the top spot at 14.0 inches, Cameron, MO and St. Joe, MO each reported 13.0 inches, while Platte City, MO, Blue Springs, MO and Olathe, KS each received 12.0 inches. Overland Park, KS got a healthy 10.0 inches, which was matched by downtown Kansas City.
City crews worked around the clock for five consecutive days, plowing streets, applying salt, and ensuring all routes were covered. The Snow Angels program took effect, which is where volunteers shovel sidewalks and plow driveways for those unable to do so themselves.
If you would like to find out more about using 3-meter PlanetScope imagery for your academic studies, engineering projects or any landscape analysis, let us know at sales@apollomapping.com or (303) 993-3863.
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