Floods caused by record snow in California

Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, Posted on: Friday, 5 November 2004, 05:45 CST Download full size image

Two large storms pounded California with rain and snow during the last two weeks of October 2004, bringing rain and snowfall totals to record levels for many areas. The resulting high water levels are apparent in the above pair of false color images (roll over the image to see the earlier scene), both acquired by MODIS instruments the Aqua and Terra satellites. In the top image, acquired on November 1, inky black water has pooled in lowlands around the Sacramento River (top center) in areas that were mostly dry in the underlying October 13 image. The River flows south through Sacramento Valley, then turns west to empty into San Pablo Bay, the body of water north of San Francisco Bay on the lower edge of the image. Additional flooding is apparent along the Sacramento River near San Pablo Bay and around the Bay itself. In these scenes, bright green marks vegetation, tan marks bare land, black marks water, light blue marks snow, and orange-red marks fire burn scars. On the left side of the image, Clearlake stands out against the Coastal Mountains, while in the upper right corner is Lake Almanor.

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