Deadly Hurricane Matthew's Total Rainfall

Hurricane Matthew devastated western Haiti and killed over 1,000 people. Matthew also took the lives of at least 37 deaths in the United States with 18 deaths  occurring in the state of North Carolina. Flooding is still widespread in North Carolina.  Some rivers in North Carolina such as the  Tar and the Neuse are still rising.

 Deadly Hurricane Matthew's Total Rainfall
This rainfall analysis was accomplished using data from NASA's Integrated Multi-satelliE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). IMERG is a unified U.S. algorithm that provides  a  multi-satellite precipitation product. IMERG is run twice in near-real time with the “Early” multi-satellite product being created at about 4 hours after observation time and a  “Late” multi-satellite product provided at about 12 hours after observation time.

 Deadly Hurricane Matthew's Total Rainfall

This rainfall analysis was created using IMERG realtime data  covering the period from September 28 through October 10, 2016. Hurricane Matthew’s interaction with a frontal boundary caused  extreme rainfall in  North Caroline resulting in over 20 inches (508 mm) of rain being reported in North Carolina.  The area was already saturated before Hurricane Matthew arrived. Heavy rainfall from a slow moving low and frontal system  moved through during the last week of September.  Maximum rainfall total estimates for the real-time IMERG product have been adjusted to reflect observed values. 

Images and caption by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC)