April Showers Bring Midwest Floods CREDIT: Jesse Allen/NASA With
rivers in the Midwestern United States already full from thawing
winter snow cover, severe rainfall in late April added to the
troubles for the region. The National Weather Service predicted
in February that the region was primed for flooding, and so far
it has lived up to the advanced billing, according to a NASA
statement. On the afternoon of April 26, 2011, the Advanced
Hydrological Prediction Service (AHPS) was reporting major
flooding at 48 river gauges and moderate flooding at 86 gauges
along central U.S. rivers. This map depicts rainfall for the
Midwestern U.S. from April 19 to 25, 2011. The estimates were
made from the Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, based on
data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Shown
in shades of green and blue, rainfall estimates range from 150
millimeters (5.9 inches) to greater than 525 millimeters (20.7
inches). Ground monitors for the AHPS reported 13.70 inches (348
mm) of rainfall in t