Satellite imagery shows whopper of a storm bearing down on U.S.

Feb. 1, 2011, 3:57 PM EST

By Jonathan Woods

This visible image was captured by the GOES-13 satellite and shows the low pressure area stretching from the Colorado Rockies and Texas east to New England on Tuesday, Feb. 1.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Three images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra satellite were combined to create this image of the storm system over the United States on Monday, Jan. 31. White gaps are areas where the sensor did not collect data. The image has a resolution of one kilometer per pixel.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

The National Weather Service is warning of a serious winter storm. It's huge - 2000 miles wide - and satellite images from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center pretty much sum it up. From the looks of things, Florida is the place to be.

See more images in the full slideshow.

The storm was bearing down on the middle of the United States on Tuesday, with freezing rain and sleet pelting several states from Texas through Ohio ahead of blizzard conditions expected overnight.

Parts of nine states — Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio — were covered by blizzard warnings, TODAY's Al Roker reported.

White-outs paralyzed Oklahoma City and the Tulsa area, where snowpack caused the partial collapse of a roof at the Hard Rock Casino. Blowing snow created drifts up to 4 feet high.

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