Death Valley flooded by "thousand-year rainfall event"

Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features Death Valley, where a “thousand-year rainfall event” dumped 75 percent of the local average annual rainfall in just three hours on August 5, 2022.

Flash flooding in Furnace Creek stranded nearly 1,000 people inside of Death Valley National Park, as debris swept over roads and washed away cars. 

“The deluge dropped 1.46 inches (3.7 centimeters), which came close to breaking the single-day record for highest rainfall ever received in the park, which was 1.47 inches in April 1988. It did, however, break the record for the most rain recorded in August, which averages just over a tenth of an inch for the whole month,” says NASA.

“By August 6, the flood water had mostly receded, and the stranded visitors were able to exit the park escorted by National Park Service personnel. But extensive mud and gravel deposits still remained, leaving some roads impassable; they were expected to remain closed into mid-August, according to a statement by the Park Service.”

On July 10, 1913, Furnace Creek recorded a temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit – the hottest air temperature in world history. The second hottest temperature recorded in the park was 130°F on August 16, 2020.

The false-color image was captured on August 7, 2022 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer