NASA on Air: NASA GPM Mission Detects Mississippi River Flooding Rains (1/15/2016)

LEAD: NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission helped forecasters track the heavy 20-inch flood-producing rainfalls of December 2015.

1. The animation shows the accumulation of rainfall from December's three major storm systems that took place on December 1st through 3rd, the 13th through 16th, and 21st through 31st.

2. Red colors indicate accumulate rainfall of 20 inches, yellow 10-12 inches, green 6-10. And shades of blue 2-6 inches. The extent of the area that drains into the Mississippi River is outlined in black.

3. Extensive flooding took place in Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi.

TAG: Alabama and Georgia were hardest hit by rainstorms that arrived Christmas week, which led to massive flooding and declarations of a state of emergency in Alabama and northern Georgia.