English: After a series of rainstorms drenched northern California in late November and early December 2012, sediment-laden water was coursing down the Eel River toward the Pacific Ocean. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image on December 9, 2012.

The Eel River drains about 3,680 square miles (9,530 square kilometers) of land, making it the third largest watershed in California; only the San Joaquin and Salinas rivers drain larger areas. The 200-mile (300-kilometer) river flows south to north in a rugged part of the California Coast Ranges, originating in northeastern Mendocino County and entering the Pacific in Humboldt County, near Eureka. San Francisco is about 200 miles to the south.

A number of large storms blew through northern California within a few weeks, bringing heavy rain to both inland and coastal California. Some of the largest storms passed between November 26 and December 2.