Nearly two weeks of intense rain are represented in this rainfall image. A string of storms brought rain and violent weather to the upper Midwestern United States in early June 2008. The rain caused widespread flooding from South Dakota to Indiana. This image shows rainfall totals across the region from June 2 through June 12, 2008. Red circles over parts of Indiana and Iowa indicate regions that received more than 400 millimeters (about 16 inches) of rain. Most of the Midwest received between 100 and 200 mm (4-8 inches) of rain, shown in green, with wide swaths of heavier rain measuring 200-300 mm (8-12 inches), yellow.
The image was made from data generated by the near-real-time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which monitors rainfall over the global tropics. In the analysis, rainfall data from a number of satellites are calibrated using data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM). TRMM was placed into service in November of 1997 to measure rainfall over the global tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors.
Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC). Caption by Holli Riebeek.
