Image of the Day: Satellite view of dust storm on the Kansas-Colorado border, 10 November 2012
Caption by Michon Scott
10 November 2012 A dust storm blew across the Kansas-Colorado border on 10 November 2012, as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image. The dust storm occurred along the Arkansas River, which flows roughly eastward from the Rocky Mountains toward the Mississippi River. The dust storm struck in the midst of an exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. By November 2012, the area along the border between Colorado and Kansas had experienced dry conditions for several months, as did a much larger region. In July 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared the largest natural-disaster area in U.S. history due to drought conditions, and this region was part of the disaster area.