Tropical Storm Tasha formed quickly in the South Pacific Ocean last weekend and made landfall on the coast of Queensland, Australia on Christmas day (local time). NASA’s Terra satellite passed over Tasha after its center made landfall and captured a visible image of the storm revealing some powerful thunderstorms.

On Dec. 24, Tropical Storm Tasha formed quickly and headed for landfall near Cairns, Australia. At 1800 UTC (1 p.m. EST or 4 a.m. on Dec. 25 local time –Brisbane/Australia), Tasha was near 17.1S 146.3E, about 35 nautical miles east-southeast of Cairns with maximum sustained winds near 39 mph. At that time a NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite image showed banding of thunderstorms and the storm was getting more organized.

On Dec. 24 at 3:14 p.m. EST (6:14 a.m. local time on Dec. 25), the Australia Bureau of Meteorology issued a Severe Weather Warning, calling for “damaging winds, heavy rainfall and further flooding for people about the Queensland coast, ranges and adjacent inland areas between Cardwell and St Lawrence.” In addition, a High Surf Warning was posted.

Snows are finally winding down in New England today, Dec. 27, as a powerful low pressure system brought blizzard conditions from northern New Jersey to Maine over Christmas weekend. The GOES-13 satellite captured an image of the low’s center off the Massachusetts coast and saw the snowfall left behind.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-13 captured the visible image. GOES satellites are operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA’s GOES Project, located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. creates some of the GOES satellite images and animations.

As of 1:30 p.m. EST, all blizzard warnings were canceled as the low has pulled much of its snow and rain away from land areas and into the North Atlantic Ocean. The winds behind the system are now causing more problems for residents along the U.S. East coast.

Snowfall ranged from 1.5 inches in Atlanta, Georgia to more than a foot in various areas of New Jersey, New York and the New England states. Near Wallops Island, Va. where NASA has a facility, more than 11 inches of snow was reported this morning. Newark, N.J. reported 17.7 inches of snow by midnight last night. Central Park in New York City reported 12.0 inches of snow had fallen just before midnight. Providence, Rhode Island reported 7.9 inches by midnight, while Boston, Mass. reported 9.9 inches at that time. More snow fell on top of those totals during the morning hours today.