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2007 USA RAINFALL PATTERNS
The 2007 rainfall pattern over the United States has been a study
in contrasts. The eastern half and particularly the southeastern USA
was affected by drought conditions from January through August 2007. Just the opposite was true in a large area extending from Texas northward through the Dakotas where heavier than normal rainfall was the rule. Atlanta, Georgia in
the southeast had one of the driest years on record while Houston, Texas set rainfall records. Tropical storm Barry dropped some beneficial rainfall over the southeast in June 2007 but that was the exception in a very dry season with
little rainfall from tropical cyclones. Tropical storm Erin dropped very
heavy rainfall over Texas and Oklahoma in August but only added to a very wet year for that area.
The TRMM satellite has now been gathering data for ten years and these data
are being used in studies of rainfall climatology. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is used to monitor rainfall over the global tropics. The rainfall anomalies shown above were made by comparing MPA rainfall data compiled during the first nine years (1998-2006) to the same period of 2007.
Images and caption by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC)
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The 2007 rainfall pattern over the United States has been a study
in contrasts. The eastern half and particularly the southeastern USA
was affected by drought conditions from January through August 2007. Just the opposite was true in a large area extending from Texas northward through the Dakotas where heavier than normal rainfall was the rule. Atlanta, Georgia in
the southeast had one of the driest years on record while Houston, Texas set rainfall records. Tropical storm Barry dropped some beneficial rainfall over the southeast in June 2007 but that was the exception in a very dry season with
little rainfall from tropical cyclones. Tropical storm Erin dropped very
heavy rainfall over Texas and Oklahoma in August but only added to a very wet year for that area.
