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New Zealand's Extreme Rainfall Examined With IMERG

Two extra-tropical cyclones recently dropped very heavy rain over New Zealand. Tropical cyclone Debbie dumped extreme amounts of rain over the northeastern coast of Australia when it hit the Queensland coast on March 28, 2017. After drenching northeastern Australia Extra-tropical Cyclone Debbie transported a river of water over New Zealand last week. Debbie's remnants dropped heavy rainfall that caused widespread flooding near the Bay of Plenty on New Zealand's northeastern coast. Thousands of residents needed to be evacuated with extra-tropical cyclone Debbie. This week extra-tropical cyclone

Texas' Heavy Rain Measured By IMERG

Over the past few days a slow moving frontal system moving through the Southwest produced heavy rain resulting in flooding and mudslides over central Texas. One person was reported swept away by flood water near Fort Hood Texas. NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) data were used to provide an estimate of rainfall accumulation over Texas. From April 10-12, 2017 IMERG estimates indicate that over 8 inches (203 mm) of rain fell in the area from central Texas through northern Louisiana.
GPM Catches Nor'easter over New England
At the time of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory overpass (April 1, 2017, 0550 UTC), the storm's center of low pressure was south of Long Island. At the mid-levels of the atmosphere, the circulation was centered over northeast Pennsylvania. This led to a classic overrunning, warm conveyor setup, which happened when the counterclockwise low level flow drew in cold air out of the north/northeast (hence "Nor'easter") from Canada. Higher up, warm and moist air from further south was lifted over this cold air and resulted in precipitation in the form of snow at the surface...

GPM Observes Tropical Cyclone Forming North of Australia

The GPM Core Observatory satellite flew directly above a forming tropical cyclone in the Timor Sea northeast of Darwin, Australia on April 10, 2017 at 1146 UTC. Data collected by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments showed that convective storms within the tropical low contained very heavy rainfall. GPM's DPR (Ku Band) data revealed that a line of intense storms west of the Bathurst and Melville islands was dropping rain at a rate of over 161 mm (6.3 inches) per hour. A 3-D examination of the forming tropical cyclone's cloud tops showed that

Deadly Flooding Rains Near Mocoa, Colombia Measured By IMERG

Late Friday night and Saturday morning flash flooding and mudslides killed over 250 people in Mocoa, Colombia. Extremely intense storms added heavy rain to water logged terrain around Mocoa. Water from this heavy rainfall converged into a river that runs close to Mocoa causing it to overflow it's banks with deadly results. Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (IMERG) data were used to estimate the amount of rain that fell near Mocoa, Colombia during the seven day period from March 26 to April 2, 2017. IMERG indicates that area rainfall totals during the week were frequently greater than 80 mm