Duration and seasonality of hourly extreme rainfall in the central eastern China

Abstract

Compared with daily rainfall amount, hourly rainfall rate represents rainfall intensity and the rainfall process more accurately, and thus is more suitable for studies of extreme rainfall events. The distribution functions of annual maximum hourly rainfall amount at 321 stations in China are quantified by the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution, and the threshold values of hourly rainfall intensity for 5-yr return period are estimated. The spatial distributions of the threshold exhibit significant regional differences, with low values in northwestern China and high values in northern China, the mid and lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley, the coastal areas of southern China, and the Sichuan basin. The duration and seasonality of the extreme precipitation with 5-yr return periods are further analyzed. The average duration of extreme precipitation events exceeds 12 h in the coastal regions, Yangtze River valley, and eastern slope of the Tibetan Plateau. The duration in northern China is relatively short. The extreme precipitation events develop more rapidly in mountain regions with large elevation differences than those in the plain areas. There are records of extreme precipitation in as early as April in southern China while extreme rainfall in northern China will not occur until late June. At most stations in China, the latest extreme precipitation happens in August-September. The extreme rainfall later than October can be found only at a small portion of stations in the coastal regions, the southern end of the Asian continent, and the southern part of southwestern China.