May green up seen from space

(KMSP) - It's amazing how fast the spring bloom can happen.  Just two short weeks ago, the grass was still brown, the trees were still bare, and the flowers were still stuck in greenhouses.  But since then it’s like nature came alive as literally everything hit spring at once.  That is likely why so many of us are having allergy issues, with everything hitting at once, sending pollen levels soaring to almost never before seen levels.

While it looks amazing here on the ground, it is even more astonishing at the scope of the green up because it can be seen from space.  Thanks to our brand new high resolution weather satellites, we can see so much details from space and take a peek at just how green we are.

While there are still many brown spots in southern and western Minnesota, as well as the northern half of Iowa, this is due to farmers plowing out the fields and just getting seeds for crops into the ground.  But many other spots are greening up, like the high tree areas from the metro and northeastward through much of Wisconsin.  Also the prairie areas of central and western South Dakota and Nebraska.  Plus the river valleys in eastern Iowa.  Not to mention, you can actually see Lake Mille Lacs go from mostly ice covered in the first week of the month, to ice free by the middle of the month.  Pretty cool! And we will only get greener from here as farmers plant there fields and crops grow, the green seen from space by the middle part of June is truly spectacular!