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NASA says its Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite measured last week's heavy rainfall that drenched the U.S. east coast.
Space agency meteorologists said the precipitation was caused by Tropical Storm Ida, which moved ashore early Nov. 10 and then quickly weakened to a tropical depression. NASA said a strong pressure gradient then developed between the remnants of Ida and high pressure that had moved over New England.
The combination resulted in strong winds blowing toward east coast shorelines, causing coastal flooding that, in some areas in Virginia, were near the values set by Hurricane Isabel in 2003, NASA said. The remnants of Ida also dropped heavy rainfall from the Gulf Coast to New Jersey, resulting in flash floods.
NASA meteorologist Hal Pierce at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. created a rainfall analysis that shows Ida's remnants resulted in large areas of very heavy rainfall with maximums in Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia. The analysis shows a maximum rainfall over land of 9.4 inches.
The TRMM satellite is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency.
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