File:Snow in Afghanistan (MODIS 2022-02-06).jpg

English: An early and bitterly cold start to winter brought blizzard conditions and avalanches to the high mountains of Afghanistan in early 2022. Snow is not unusual in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountains—glaciers are found the high elevations—but massive dumps of snow and steeply falling temperatures could not come at a worse time for those people who are finding themselves short on food, fuel, and other life-sustaining resources after an exceptionally turbulent year.

A January 4 report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that a harsh winter was already fueling an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, with heavy snow dumped in the previous 24 hours causing disruption of flights which may carry aid to the region. Several humanitarian organizations—working carefully to stay within legal limits—have been bringing food, blankets, and heating assistance to people suffering from the dire humanitarian situation, which worsened when the Taliban forces took over control of the country in August 2021 and has now worsened again. As of January 7, media reported that Afghan officials stated that thirty of the country’s 34 provinces had received heavy snowfall, with roads impassable in 10 provinces. On January 19, additional reports stated that at least eight people had died, in three separate landslides and avalanches in the country.

On February 3, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of a blanket of snow sprawled across the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan. The Daily Snow Depth for Afghanistan, published by the Early Warning and Environmental Monitoring Program of the US Geological Survey (USGS) on February 5, shows maximum depth at a few of the highest mountain elevations in northeast Afghanistan measuring more than two meters (79 inches), although most snow depth measured about half that much.