Some 80 years ago. Maybe.
“Crewmembers aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) clean snow off of the aircraft during operations in the North Atlantic on 29 June 1943.”
Note the snow-dusted TBF Avengers, SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and F4F Wildcats, a very late 1942- late 1943 carrier air group. Via Hampton Roads Naval Museum.
The date given is kind of specious, however.
While DANFS notes Ranger was in the Atlantic during this period, saying that between February when she made her fourth trip carrying Army P-40s to North Africa, and August when she chopped to support the British fleet’s operations in Norway she “trained pilots along the New England coast steaming as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia,” her deck logs in the National Archives lists her as tied up at Buoy P-5 in Argentia, Newfoundland with part of her airwing (Air Group Four) ashore, rather than underway or even in a latitude high enough to have heavy snow at that time of year.
Further, the weather for nearby Gander for that day, while mentioning that temperatures dropped as low as 39 F degrees, it never dropped below freezing and no snow was reported, just light to moderate rain.
Air Group Four’s excellent website notes, “On April 2, she proceeded with Task Force 22 to Argentia, Newfoundland, arriving on April 4. Ranger operated with Air Group 4 in the Argentia area until early July 1943.”
This leads to the possibility that the picture was taken earlier in the year, as snow in Newfoundland is likely in April and even into early May, and the picture was just released (not taken) on 29 June.
Another possibility is that the photo is more likely from Operation Leader, the efforts against German forces in occupied Norway, and the Bodo raid a few months later. In that op, Air Goup 4 notes, “All hands became ‘Blue Noses’ having crossed the Arctic Circle on several occasions.”
Royal Navy battleship, HMS Duke of York, underway astern of USS Ranger (CV 4), September 1943 #80-G-88048 (2048×1641)
Either way, springing forward 80 years, we now have this very related video released by the Navy earlier this month of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78), launching and recovering aircraft in the Norwegian Sea while on NATO operations.