Precipitation

Precipitation
 The word Precipitation as used in hydrology includes all
forms of water like rain, snow, hail and sleet derived from
atmospheric water.

 The presence of atmospheric vapour is not only essential

element for precipitation to occur. Water vapour is always
present in atmosphere, but still precipitation may not be
falling.

 Therefore, something is needed in addition to water vapour

to cause precipitation.
Forms of Precipitation
 Some of the forms of the precipitations are given as
under
 Drizzle — a light steady rain in fine drops (0.5
mm) and intensity <1 mm/hr>
 Rain — the condensed water vapour of the
atmosphere falling in drops (>0.5 mm, maximum
size—6 mm) from the clouds.

Continued…
Approximate Size of Types of Precipitation

0.005-0.05 mm
0.5mm – 6.25 mm

less than 0.5mm

Mist Drizzle Rain/Sleet

Forms of Precipitation
 Glaze
 When rain or drizzle comes
in contact with cold ground
at 00C, the water drops
freeze to form an ice coating
called glaze or freezing rain.

 Sleet
 Sleet is frozen raindrops
which form when rain falls
through air at subfreezing
temperature.

Continued…
Forms of Precipitation
 Hail — small lumps of ice (>5 mm in diameter)
formed by alternate freezing and melting, when
they are carried up and down in highly turbulent
air currents.
 Fog — a thin cloud of varying size formed at the
surface of the earth by condensation of
atmospheric vapour (interfering with visibility)
 Mist — a very thin fog

Continued…
Forms of Precipitation
 Snow
 Snow is another important form of precipitation. Snow
consists of ice crystals which usually combine to form
flakes.
 Snow is precipitation in the form of ice crystals resulting
from sublimation i.e. change of water vapor directly to ice.
On CALTECH (California Institute of 
Technology)
Classification of Precipitation based on the 
Lifting Mechanism 
 The precipitation is often classified according to
the factor responsible for lifting of air to higher
altitudes.
 Following are the various types of precipitation
based on this classification.
 Convectional Precipitation
 Orographic Precipitation
 Cyclonic Precipitation
Factors Influencing Precipitation Formation
 Mechanism of Cooling
 When the air ascends from near the surface of the
Earth to upper levels in the atmosphere, pressure
reduction takes place. Due to this pressure reduction
air crosses through the colder layers and this is the
only mechanism capable of producing the degree and
rate of cooling needed to account for heavy rainfall.

Continued…
Convective precipitation
 Frontal 
Precipitation
Orographic precipitation
 Cyclonic precipitation
 Here the winds normally blow
spirally inward counter clockwise
in the northern hemisphere and
clockwise in the southern
hemisphere due to pressure
difference created by un equal
heating of earth’s surface.
Discuss in detail the causes of rainfall/precipitation for 
both winter and summers seasons in Pakistan
Artificially Induced Precipitation
Attempts to increase the precipitation, suppress the hail &
lighting, mitigate hurricane, dissipate fog, prevent frost, alter
radiation balance is called as , “Weather Modifications”

What Could be done??

 Ifmoisture is available in upper troposphere, but no seeds!
Seeds can be spread (Chemicals)

 If Clouds are there, but no rainfall!

Chemicals on the top of clouds can be spread to grow the size
of cloud droplets (Salts / Chemicals)

Does these Chemicals have environmental impacts?

Answer: Yes
Artificially Induced Precipitation (cond.)
• 1-It was demonstrated in 1946,
that dry ice can cause
precipitation in a cloud
containing the certain salts.

• 2-Salts in supercooled
clouds,(temp. -4ºC ) can
initiate rainfall immediately.

( Cloud Seeding)

• Silver Iodide (AgI) is found to

be one of the most effective
salt for artificial rain.
Measurement of Precipitation
What to measure?
(1) Amount of Precipitation (mm)
(2) Duration of Precipitation (beginning & ending) (hrs)
(3) Intensity of ppt OR Rate of Precipitation(mm/hr)
(4) Areal extent of Precipitation (km2)

How to measure?
(1) Rain gauges/Ground Measurement
(2) Using Radars
(3) Satellite Estimates
Measurement of Precipitation
 Amount of Precipitation
 The amount of precipitation means the vertical depth of
water that would accumulate on a level surface, if the
precipitation remains where it falls.
 The amount of precipitation is usually measured in
length units (inches, ft, cm, mm)

Continued…
 Measurement of Precipitation

 Amount of Precipitation

 Find out the volume of 1 cm rainfall occurred over a

catchment of 1 km2

 Clue
 Make the units consistent

Continued…
 Measurement of Precipitation

 Duration of Precipitation

 This is the time considered from the beginning of a

storm/rainfall/precipitation event till its finishing e.g. 1
hr duration rainfall, 2hr, 5 hr, 6 hr etc.

Continued…
Measurement of Precipitation
 Intensity or Rate of Precipitation
 Amount of precipitation per unit time is called
the intensity of precipitation or rate of
precipitation.
Type Intensity

1 Light Rain 2.5 mm/hr

2 Moderate Rain 2.5 mm/hr to 7.5 mm/hr

3 Heavy Rain > 7.5mm/hr

Continued…
Measurement of Precipitation
 Areal Extent of Precipitation
 The extent or the area over which the rainfall occurs 

Continued…
Measurement of Precipitation
 Both the amount and rate of precipitation are
important in hydrologic studies.

 The precipitation is measured by rain gauges.

There are two types of rain gauges.

 Non‐recording rain gauge. (Standard rain gauge)

 Recording rain gauge

Continued…
 Non‐Recording Rain Gauges
 The US Weather Bureau Non‐Recording
Rain Gauge
203mm

 NOTE:
600mm
 Rain passes from the collector (dia=
20.3cm) into a cylindrical measuring
tube having X‐sectional Area= 1/10th
of the collector so that 0.1 inch rainfall
will fill the tube to a depth of 1inch.

Non-Recording Rain Gauge

Continued…
 Non‐Recording Rain Gauges
 The Symon’s Non‐Recording Rain Gauge
 NOTE:
 It consists of a funnel with a circular rim of 12.7 cm diameter
and a glass bottle as a receiver. The cylindrical metal casing is
fixed vertically to the masonry foundation with the level rim
30.5 cm above the ground surface. The rain falling into the
funnel is collected in the receiver and is measured in a special
measuring glass graduated in mm of rainfall; when full it can
measure 1.25 cm of rain.

Continued…
Non‐Recording Rain Gauges
 The Symon’s Non‐Recording Rain Gauge

Continued…
 Recording Rain‐gauges
 This is also called self‐
recording, automatic or
integrating rain gauge.

 It has an automatic
mechanical arrangement
consisting of a
clockwork, a drum with a
Mass curve of rainfall
graph paper fixed around
it and a pencil point,
which draws the mass
curve of rainfall
 There are three types of recording rain gauges
 Tipping bucket gauge
 Weighing gauge
 Float gauge
1662 First Tipping Bucket Raingauge

Sir Christopher Wren, England

(1632-1732, aged 90)
Recording Rain Gauges 
 Float Type Rain Gauge Vertical movement of the
 Some automatic means is float with increase in water
level is recorded on the
provided for emptying the float
wrapped chart around the
chamber when it becomes full, rotating clock driven drum
the pen then returns to the
bottom of the chart.
 Snow can not be measured by
this type of rain gauge.
Hollow
Float

Float
Chamber

Continued…
Recording Rain Gauges
 Weighing Type Rain 
Gauge
 The records show the
accumulation of
precipitation. Weighing
type gauges operate from 1
to 2 months without
stopping.

Continued…
Snow‐Telemetry (SNOTEL)
Radar
RAdio Detection And Ranging

This is a modern technique for

measurement of rainfall rate. The
electromagnetic energy released and
received back by radar is a measure of
rainfall intensity.
The measurement is appreciably affected
by trees and buildings. However extent
of rainfall can be estimated with
reasonable accuracy. Use of radar is
useful where number of rain gauges
installed in an area is not sufficient.
Radar Measurement of Precipitation
What we can
measure?

(1) Intensity of ppt.

(2) Duration of ppt.
(3) Amount of ppt.
(4) Areal extent
(5) Movement of
rainstorm
Transmitter

Receiver

Source: www2010, Univ. of Illinois

 Doppler weather radar

NEXRAD Next-Generation Radar

NEXRAD UK weather radars

17
158
Weather radar network in China

Doppler Weather radar 126

RANGE 450 KMS
RANGE 250 KMS
AREA COVERED THROUGH RADAR NETWORK
IR IMAGE
 Gauge Density
No. of square kilometers covered per rain gauge
WMO Rcommended minimum densities of PPT. Stns (Stations / 106 km2)

Area Non Recording Recording

Coastal 1,111 111
Mountainous 4,000 400
Interior plains 1,740 174
Hilly / Undulating 1,740 174
Small Islands 40,000 4,000
Urban Areas 50,000-100,000
Polar / arid 100 10
Source: Guide to Hydrological Practices by WMO, 1994
 Adequacy of rain gauge stations
The optimal number of stations that should exist to have an
assigned %age error in the estimation of mean rainfall can
be obtained by statistical analysis as:

2
 Cv  Where
N  
  N = Optimal number of stations
 = Allowable degree of error in the
 
Cv   m 1  X 100
estimation of mean rainfall (%)
 P 
Cv = coefficient of variation of rainfall
at existing m stations (%)

  
m

  Pi  P
2

 m 1   1 
m = Already rain gauge stns in the
 m 1  catchment
 
 m 1 = standard deviation
1m  Pi = ppt magnitude in the ith station
P   Pi 
m 1 
 Analysis of Precipitation Data
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS

 Mean Daily Temperature

 It is the average of maximum and minimum temperatures during
the past 24 hours.
 Normal Daily Temperature
 It is the average daily mean temperature for a given day over the past
30‐years period i.e. it is the mean temperature for a specific day
 Mean Monthly Temperature
 It is the average of the mean monthly maximum and minimum 
temperatures or it is the mean temperature of the mean daily 
temperatures during the month.
 Mean Annual Temperature
 It is the mean temperature of 12 months. 
Analysis of Precipitation Data

 Point Data Analysis

 Point precipitation data refers to precipitation of a

station. This data could be in form of hourly
record, daily record, monthly precipitation or
annual precipitation.
 Data continuity and consistency of a rain gauge
should be checked first.

Continued…
Reasons for Missing Precipitation Record 
 Malfunctioning of precipitation gage and/or related
equipment
 Effect of natural hazards (floods, landslides, hurricanes,
etc.)
 Sabotage (terrorism)
 Human related problems (temporary absence of people in
charge of reading gages, mistakes in handling data, etc.)
 Others
 Hence missing data has to be estimated

Continued…
Estimation of missing data
 Several methods are available for estimating missing
precipitation data. Some methods are quite simple but
others are more involved requiring some expertise in
statistical analysis, time series analysis, neural
networks, spatial analysis, etc.
 The type of methods to apply for a particular case
depend whether the missing data are temporal or
spatial data. The method to apply for temporal data
depends on the temporal resolution (e.g. annual,
monthly, daily, hourly, etc.) and the length (amount)
of missing data.
Estimation of missing data
 Also the applicability of certain methods (e.g. methods
based on time series analysis) depends on the available
record length. Some of the methods that can be used
for missing data estimation are as
 Arithmetic mean
 Normal ratio method
 Inverse distance method
 Correlation and regression
 Others
Estimation of Missing Precipitation Record
 The gauging station whose data is missing is
called interpolation station and
 The gauging stations whose data are used to
calculate the missing station data are called
index stations.
 If the normal annual precipitation of the index
stations lies within  10% of normal annual
precipitation of interpolation station then we
apply arithmetic mean method to determine the
missing precipitation record otherwise the
normal ratio method is used for this purpose.

Continued…
Estimation of Missing Precipitation Record
 Consider that record is missing from a station ‘X’.
 Now let,
N = Normal annual precipitation. (Mean of 30 years of
annual precipitation data)
P = Storm Precipitation.
 Let
 Px be the missing precipitation for station ‘X’ and
 Nx, the normal annual precipitation of this station
 Na, Nb and Nc are normal annual precipitations of nearby
three stations, A, B and C respectively while
 Pa, Pb and Pc are the storm precipitation of that period for
these stations.

Continued…
Estimation of Missing Precipitation Record

 Now we have to compare Nx with Na , Nb and Nc

separately. If difference of Nx ‐ Na, Nx ‐ Nb, Nx ‐ Nc is
within ±1/10% of Nx then we use simple arithmetic
mean method otherwise the normal ratio method is
used.

Continued…
Simple Arithmetic Mean Method
 According to the arithmetic mean method the
missing precipitation is given as:
i n
1
Px = n i 1
where n is number of nearby stations.
P i

 In case of three stations a, b and c,

Px = (Pa + Pb + Pc)/3
 Where Pa , Pb and Pc are defined above.

Continued…
 Normal Ratio Method
 According to the normal ratio method the missing precipitation is
given as:

1 in N x
Px =    Pi
n i 1 N i
 where Px is the missing precipitation for any storm at the
interpolation station ‘X’.
 Pi is the precipitation for the same period of same storm at the
“ith” station of a group of index stations and
 Nx and Ni are the normal annual precipitation values for the ‘X’
and ‘ith’ stations e.g. in case of three index stations
1 Nx N N ]
Px =  3 [ P1  P x
P 2
x
3
N1 N N
2 3
Continued…
Normal Ratio Method
 Example 
 Find out the missing storm precipitation of station ‘C’
given in the following table: (can we apply Simple
Arithmetic Mean Method to Approach the Solution?)

Station A B C D E
Storm precipitation 9.7 8.3 ---- 11.7 8.0
(cm)
Normal Annual 100.3 109.5 93.5 125.7 117.5
precipitation (cm)

Continued…
Normal Ratio Method
 Solution
 In this example the storm precipitation and normal
annual precipitations at stations A, B, D and E are
given and missing precipitation at station ‘C’ is to
be calculated whose normal annual precipitation is
known. We will determine first that whether
arithmetic mean or normal ratio method is to be
applied.
 10% of Nc = 93.5x10/100 = 9.35
 After the addition of 10% of Nc in Nc, we get
93.5+9.35=102.85
 And by subtracting 10% we get a value of 84.15
 So Na, Nb, Nd or Ne values are to be checked for the
range 102.85 to 84.15.

Continued…
Normal Ratio Method
 If any value of Na, Nb, Nd or Ne lies beyond this range,
then normal ratio method would be used. It is clear
from data in table above that Nb, Nd and Ne values are
out of this range so the normal ratio method is
applicable here, according to which

1 in N x
 Px =   Pi
n i 1 N i

 Pc= (1/4 )(93.5 x 9.7/100.3+ 93.5 x 8.3/109.5+ 93.5 x 
11.7/125.7+ 93.5 x 8.0/117.5) = 7.8 cm

Continued…
Normal Ratio Method
 Example
 Precipitation station “X” was inoperative for part
of a month during which a storm occurred. The
storm totals at three surrounding stations A, B
and C were respectively 10.7, 8.9 and 12.2 cm.
 The normal annual precipitation amounts at
stations X, A, B and C are respectively 97.8, 112,
93.5 and 119.9 cm. Estimate the storm
precipitation for station ‘X’.

Continued…
Normal Ratio Method
 Solution
Pa = 10.7 cm Na = 112 cm
Pb = 8.90 cm Nb = 93.5 cm
Pc =  12.2 cm Nc = 119.9 cm
Px = ? Nx = 97.8 cm
10% of Nx  = 97.8 x  10/100  =  9.78 cm.
Nx ‐ Na = 97.8 ‐ 112 = ‐14.2 cm  More than + 10% of Nx 
(no need of calculating Nx – Nb and  Nx ‐ Nc
So we will use Normal Ratio Method.
Px = (1/3) ( 97.8 x 10.7/112+ 97.8 x 8.90 /93.5 + 97.8 x 12.2 
/119.9)
Px = 9.5 cm
Inverse Distance Method
 Referring to the sketch below
let us define the following
information:
 dZ = distance between gage Y
and Z, where Z =A, B, etc.
 Pt(Z) = precipitation at gage Z
during time t, where Z =A, B,
etc.
 Pt(Y) = missing precipitation
at gage Y
Inverse Distance Method
 The estimated missing precipitation at site Y by the
inverse distance method is:
Method based on regression analysis
 Assume that two precipitation gages Y and X have long
records of annual precipitation, i.e.
 Y1,Y2 ,...,YN and X1, X2 ,..., X N . The precipitation Yt is
missing. We will fill in the missing data
 based on a simple linear regression model. The model
can be written as:

 in which the parameters a and b can be estimated by

 where Y (bar) and X (bar) are the sample means, S*Y
and S*X are the sample unbiased standard deviations
of Y and X, respectively, and rXY is the cross‐correlation
coefficient between X and Y. The latter term can be
estimated as:
Consistency of Precipitation Data or Double Mass 
Analysis 
 In using precipitation for the solution of
hydrologic problems, it is necessary to
ascertain that time trends in the data are due
to meteorological changes only and not other
factors like
 Changes in the gauge location
 Change in surroundings such as
 Construction of buildings or
 Growth of trees etc
 Frequently changes in gauge location are not
disclosed in the published record
 Due to such changes the data might not be
consistent
Continued…
Inconsistent Data
 The precipitation measured at a given gage Y is
inconsistent with that measured at another gage X
when the time series pattern of Y and related statistics
(e.g. the mean) are different than those of X.
Conversely, analyzing the consistency of data at Y is
meant in relation to another dataset, e.g. X, i.e.
consistency analysis is testing that the time series
pattern and/or statistical characteristics of Y are
similar to those of X.
 It is assumed that the time series Xt is reliable and its
pattern and statistics are a true representation of the
natural variability that is expected at the site.
Inconsistent Data
 Consider the two cases shown in the figure below. In
Fig.(a) precipitation series Yt appears to be
inconsistent (relative to X) because its time series
pattern is markedly different than that of Xt . On the
other hand series Yt in Fig.(b) appears to be consistent
with series Xt.
Consistency of Precipitation Data or Double Mass 
Analysis
 The consistency of the record is to be
determined and necessary adjustments are
required to be made. This can be achieved by
a method called double mass curve technique.
 The double mass curve is obtained by plotting
the accumulated precipitation at the station in
question along X‐axis and the average
accumulated precipitation of a number of
other nearby stations which are situated
under the same meteorological conditions
along Y‐axis.

Continued…
Consistency of Precipitation Data or Double Mass 
Analysis
 If the curve has a constant slope, the record of station “X” is
consistent. However, if there is any break in the slope of
the curve, the record of the station is inconsistent and has
to be adjusted by the formula.
Pa = (Sa / So) x Po
Where Pa = Adjusted precipitation.
Po = Observed precipitation.
Sa = Slope prior to the break in the curve
So = Slope after the break in the curve.

Continued…
Consistency of Precipitation Data or 
Double Mass Analysis
 Therefore part of the record of station in question
must be adjusted. Which part of the record must be
adjusted (before the break point or after). This
depends on the particular case.
 For example, if the inconsistency in the station has
occurred because the gage was moved from the
original location to another location (the current
location), then it is logical to adjust the record before
the break point.
Consistency of Precipitation Data or 
Double Mass Analysis
 It may be shown that the first part of the record may
be adjusted by Pa = (Sa / So) x Po. On the other hand,
if the second part of the record is needed to be
adjusted use instead Pa = (So / Sa) x Po.
 So

Sa
Example: Check consistency of the data given in table 3.1 below and adjust it if it is
found to be inconsistent
Year Annual precipitation at x Mean of annual precipitation of 20 Year Annual precipitation at x Mean of annual
(mm) surrounding stations (mm) (mm) precipitation of 20
surrounding stations
(mm)

1972 188 264 1954 223 360

1971 185 228 1953 173 234
1970 310 386 1952 282 333
1969 295 297 1951 218 236
1968 208 284 1950 246 251
1967 287 350 1949 284 284
1966 183 236 1948 493 361
1965 304 371 1947 320 282
1964 228 234 1946 274 252
1963 216 290 1945 322 274
1962 224 282 1944 437 302
1961 203 246 1943 389 350
1960 284 264 1942 305 228
1959 295 332 1941 320 312
1958 206 231 1940 328 284
1957 269 234 1939 308 315
1956 241 231 1938 302 280
1955 284 312 1937 414 343
Consistency of Precipitation Data or Double 
Mass Analysis
 Solution
 A double mass curve is plotted by taking cumulative of average precipitation 
of surrounding stations along x‐axis and accumulative precipitation of 
station ‘X’ along 
y‐axis for which consistency of data is being investigated.
 The double mass curve is shown in Figure 

12000
10000
8000 Sa/S0=0.7
6000
S0=1.176
4000

2000 Sa=0.854

0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

Continued…
Consistency of Precipitation Data or Double Mass 
Analysis
 The correction for slope is applied to readings beyond
break in slope. The calculations are shown in table,
below.
Slope of 1st line = Sa = 0.854
Slope of deviating line = So = 1.176
Correction to values (multiplying factor) = 0.854/1.176 = 0.70
 Now regime changes before 1950. So up to 1950 no
correction is required. After 1950 all readings are
multiplied by slopes ratio of 0.7 to get corrected
precipitation.
 Note that data in latter interval (1973‐1950) is considered
more authentic so kept in initial reach of the graph.

Continued…
 Table: Adjusted Precipitation
Year Cumulative Annual precipitation at Cummulative precipitation of 20 Corrected Precipitation Remarks
x (mm) surrounding stations (mm)

1972 188 264 188

1971 373 492 185
1970 683 878 310
1969 978 1175 295
1968 1186 1459 208
1967 1473 1809 287
1966 1656 2045 183
1965 1960 2416 304
1964 2188 2650 228
1963 2404 2940 216

No correction
1962 2628 3222 224
1961 2831 3468 203
1960 3115 3732 284
1959 3410 4064 295
1958 3616 4295 206
1957 3885 4529 269
1956 4126 4760 241
1955 4410 5072 284
1954 4633 5432 223
1953 4806 5666 173
1952 5088 5999 282
1951 5306 6235 218
1950 5552 6486 246
Continued…
 Table: Adjusted Precipitation
Year Cumulative Annual precipitation at x Cumulative precipitation of 20 surrounding Corrected Precipitation Remarks
(mm) stations (mm)

1949 5836 6770 190.8

1948 6329 7131 345

1947 6649 7413 224

1946 6923 7665 192

Precipitation of Station 'X' x0.7

1945 7245 7939 225.4

1944 7682 8241 306

1943 8071 8591 272.3

1942 8376 8819 213.5

1941 8696 9131 224

1940 9024 9415 229.6

1939 9332 9730 215.6

1938 9634 10010 211.4

1937 10048 10353 290

Daily rainfall data has been
given of Astore Catchment
and near by gauging station
for certain years. You are
required to check the
consistency of each station
with respect to other
stations. Use MS‐Excel in
order to make data
consistent.
Do not forget to complete
the missing data if any…….