Great Britain and Ireland

Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument acquired this image over Great Britain and Ireland on 7 February 2009. The island of Great Britain (on the east, or right), is largely covered by clouds but white patches of snow are also visible. Severe storms have been wreaking havoc on Britain since 2 February when the country was hit with the most widespread coverage of snow in nearly 20 years. The island of Ireland is visible in the lower left corner. This nearly cloud-free image over Ireland in the winter is rare because typical winter weather includes clouds and rain.