Snow seems like a good idea until you’re in it, which is why I prefer my snow in pictures, or viewed from the comfort of a ski lodge with a fireplace.

If you want to go skiing somewhere close to South Africa, your best bet is the kingdom of Lesotho.

Unless it really dumps down in the Matroosberg reserve, like it did last month.

For most of the winter, Afriski Mountain Resort makes artificial snow, but occasionally nature pitches in. Earlier this month, Lesotho had so much snowfall that it attracted NASA’s attention.

Earth Observatory reported a “winter blanket for Lesotho”.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired these natural-color images on August 6 and 11, 2018. A winter weather front dropped between 5 to 30 centimeters (2 to 12 inches) of snow on most of Lesotho on August 9 and 10, particularly in the Maluti Mountains.

Lesotho is one of the few countries in the world that sits entirely about 1000 meters (3300 feet) above sea level. Snowfall occurs periodically in the short winter season, though not as often as it once did. Heavy snowfalls (like the one in 2016) have become rare, though light dustings occur periodically through the winter.

In most cases, the snow melts away within a few days. By August 16, 2018, images from the MODIS instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite [above] revealed that most of the snow blanket was gone. However, some snow is in the forecast for the coming weekend.

So pack your skis and take a drive up country if that’s your thing. I’ll be staying warm.

[source:earthobservatory]