Warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico collided with a cold front resulting in extremely heavy rainfall in eastern Texas over the weekend. Rapid flooding resulted from reported rainfall of up to seven inches near Houston, Texas. The rainfall analysis was derived from the TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. These rainfall data are derived from a TRMM-calibrated merger of various other satellite rainfall data. TMPA rainfall totals are shown here for the 3-day period from April 26-29, 2013. This analysis shows that

An advancing frontal system extending from the Great Lakes region all the way down to the Gulf Coast supported a line of widespread storms and thunderstorms that brought heavy rain to parts of Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana. The hardest hit area was northern Illinois where flooding was reported in and around Chicago. The scenario was set up by a deep upper-level trough that moved out of the Rockies and into the Plains. Strong southerly winds ahead of the trough allowed warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico to stream northwards all the way up to Lake Michigan. The TRMM-based, near-real