Satellites: NOAA-15 and NOAA-17, part of NOAA's 850km-high (530 mile-high) Polar Orbiting satellites

Mid-latitude winter storm brings a lot of snow to the northeast
Taken just before noon, this image shows the counter-clockwise rotation of this winter storm that will bring a lot of snow to the northeast, and parts of the eastern seaboard.
The storm's rotation pulls moisture off of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, throws it into the cold air coming from Canada (courtesy of the jet stream dipping down into the US), and makes for travelers' headaches all over.
For a good explanation of how these low & high pressure systems conspire with their accompanying warm/wet and cold/dry air to create precipitation (frozen and otherwise), see Kevin Myatt's Weather Journal column online from the Roanoke Times.
Click on the images below for a higher-resolution (>100k) version.