About The Silo
Look closer.
The Silo covers the Nebraska Panhandle, southeastern Wyoming, and northeastern Colorado through satellite imagery, data maps, and sensor journalism. Our core communities are Kimball, Sidney, Scottsbluff, Alliance, and Chadron in Nebraska; Torrington, Cheyenne, and Laramie in Wyoming.
This is a region that national media rarely covers in depth — and when they do, it's usually for one story about agriculture or one story about the missile fields. We think the ground truth is more interesting than the stereotypes. The satellite catches things that press releases don't mention.
Every image published here is processed from open government satellite data — primarily ESA Sentinel-2, NASA/USGS Landsat, and NASA MODIS — using reproducible, documented methods. We follow the color treatment guidance of Rob Simmon and Tom Patterson: percentile stretch, gamma 1.8, gentle saturation. Nothing invented.
Data sources
- —Sentinel-2 L2A — ESA Copernicus / Microsoft Planetary Computer
- —Landsat 8–9 Collection 2 L2 — USGS / NASA
- —MODIS Terra + Aqua (MOD09GA, MOD13Q1, MOD14) — NASA LP DAAC
- —Sentinel-1 C-band SAR — ESA / Alaska Satellite Facility
- —GOES-16/17/18 — NOAA
- —NWS NDFD forecast grids — NOAA
- —USGS StreamStats + gauge data — USGS
- —FIRMS active fire — NASA
Licensing
All original work published by The Silo is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). You may republish, translate, or adapt any of our work for free — in print, online, or broadcast — with attribution. Small papers, radio stations, and community newsletters: please use it.
Underlying satellite data is public domain (US government) or open access (ESA Copernicus). Our processing code is open source.
Contact
The best way to reach us is via the newsletter. Tips, corrections, and story ideas are always welcome — especially from people who know this ground.