Picture of northern and main California caught on January 1, 2023, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite after heavy rain hit the area.
Picture of main and northern California recorded on December 16, 2022, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite prior to the heavy rain struck the area.
Heavy rain and levee breaches activated flooding in parts of Sacramento and the Bay Area.
On New Years Eve 2022, heavy rain hit parts of northern and main California, flooding communities near San Francisco and Sacramento. Water breached levees along the Cosumnes River near Wilton, California, flooding various roads including Highway 99– a major thoroughfare in the Central Valley. Wilton and other neighboring farming communities were released evacuation orders.
The Bay Area National Weather Service measured 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) of rain in downtown San Francisco on December 31, 2022, the 2nd wettest day in more than 170 years of record-keeping. This day-to-day total is about half of the citys anticipated rainfall for the entire month of December. Toward the northeast in Sacramento County, some locations taped up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain within 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service.
The flooding that took place is visible in the false-color image (right) obtained on January 1, 2023, with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite. For contrast, the MODIS image from December 16, 2022 (left) shows the exact same location prior to the intense rainfall.
January 1, 2023
Near Wilton, levees of the Cosumnes River have been breached. The Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services urged residents of Wilton, California, to evacuate on December 31, 2022, however altered the order a couple of hours later on to shelter-in-place due to treacherous road conditions in the area. As flooding moved southwest along the Cosumnes River on January 1, citizens of Point Pleasant were ordered to leave their homes and move animals.
Emergency workers rescued individuals from the roofs of vehicles, and several people in Wilton were stranded in their houses. Numerous people in Sacramento County were still without power since the early morning of January 3, 2023.
Crews of the Cosumnes River Levee District are working to repair the levee breaches as more rain is expected to strike Sacramento Countys currently saturated soils starting on January 4.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, utilizing MODIS information from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.
On New Years Eve 2022, heavy rain hit parts of northern and main California, flooding neighborhoods near San Francisco and Sacramento. The Bay Area National Weather Service measured 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) of rain in downtown San Francisco on December 31, 2022, the second wettest day in more than 170 years of record-keeping. Towards the northeast in Sacramento County, some locations tape-recorded up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain within 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service.
The flooding that occurred is noticeable in the false-color image (right) gotten on January 1, 2023, with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite.