Special Purpose Imagery

The James River at LaMoure, ND is still above flood stage. This Thematic Mapper image from Landsat 5 was taken at the crest of the flooding on April 19, 2009. TM bands 4-3-2 are displayed as RGB. As of 3pm April 22, the river is receding at 15.31 ft, still above the nominal flood stage of 14'. The scene is GIS-ready with the additional .jgw file.

This Thematic Mapper image of the James River is from Landsat 5, taken April 19, 2009. The RGB band combination is 7-5-3, chosen from this margin image to best delineate the extent of water over land. The scene is GIS-ready with the additional .jgw file.

Text of the latest warning:

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE JAMES RIVER NEAR COLUMBIA

• UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...
• AT 09AM WEDNESDAY THE STAGE WAS 19.7 FEET...
• RECORD FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND RECORD FLOODING IS FORECAST...
• FLOOD STAGE IS 13.0 FEET...
• THE RIVER ROSE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE AND WILL CONTINUE RISING TO NEAR 19.8 FEET BY THIS EVENING. THE RIVER SHOULD BEGIN FALLING THE THE MORNING OF MONDAY MAY 4 2009.
• AT 19.6 FEET...THE WATER OVERTOPS THE LEVEE AT THE PARK IN COLUMBIA..

This annotated MODIS scene from April 14th shows the flood extent and also shows Devils Lake as well. The scene is GIS-ready with the additional .jgw file.

This is a scene from a Landsat overpass on April 10th, showing the flooded areas from Grand Forks northwards into Canada. A full resolution (30m) georegistered jpg image suitable for importing into a GIS can be found here (20 MB).

This is an annotated MODIS image from April 9th showing the regional flooding overlain by forecast points. Of note are the flood pools above Fargo, Grand Forks, and Pembina; the scale of the flooded area in comparison to Lake Superior; and the remaining snowpack south of Fargo and in the tributaries to the west. This is not a swollen river; this is a series of lakes.

This is a scene from a Landsat overpass on April 3rd. A full resolution (30m) georegistered jpg image suitable for importing into a GIS can be found here (33 MB).

This is a scene from a Landsat overpass on April 3rd. A full resolution (30m) georegistered jpg image suitable for importing into a GIS can be found here (29 MB).

This moderate resolution image shows the broader region including the similar snow-free/inundated area south of Fargo. This image supports the talking point that there is substantial snow through the area still to be melted.

This high resolution image shows Fargo and the area immediately north. The darest areas along the channel are clearly inundated. The snow-free area north of Fargo was mapped as inundated on Mar 30. The recent snowfall most likely hit shallow standing water or very wet ground and melted on impact. This image supports the talking point that storage areas are full.

This is a Canadian RadarSAT image of the Grand Forks area from March 28. RadarSAT is not affected by cloud cover. See the legend for an explanation of how to interpret the colors in this image. Interpretation is qualitative only - basically pink/magenta is standing water, as it fades to blue/purple there is varying moisture and snow cover, green-cyan is likely bare fields, yellow is rougher bare fields, and red is very rough, probably buildings. If you try to just pay attention to the pink-magenta darkening to blue/purple, you're seeing standing water or very wet areas.

The crest was 15.29', over the flood stage of 13.0' and is current at 14.88'. The channels used in the RGB image were 7-5-3, with the infra-red chosen to accent the extent of flooding. This Landsat TM scene is GIS-ready with the additional .jgw file.

Landsat ID: L5017038_03820090424EDC00

The crest was 77.29', over the flood stage of 74.5' and is currently at 76.27'. The channels used in the RGB image were 7-5-3, with the infra-red chosen to accent the extent of flooding. This Landsat TM scene is GIS-ready with the additional .jgw file.

Landsat ID: L5017038_03820090424EDC00

The river is receding, down to 12.49 ft from a peak of 14.36'. Flood stage is 13'. This image is from the Landsat 5 satellite, displaying bands 4/3/2 as R/G/B. The scene is GIS-ready with the additional .jgw file.

The river is receding, down to 16.45 ft from a peak of 19.57'. This image is from the Landsat 5 satellite, taking bands 4/3/2 as R/G/B. The scene is GIS-ready with the additional .jgw file.