Comparative analysis of hourly features of precipitation in the north and south areas of Qinling Mountains

Abstract

In this paper, we use the hourly precipitation data observed by the national ground weather stations in the Qinling region during the warm season (April-October) from 1961 to 2015 to compare the precipitation evolution on both sides of the Qinling Mountains from the perspective of pentad and diurnal features in precipitation. The research shows that the north and south sides of the Qinling Mountains have double-peak precipitation in summer and autumn. The main peak of precipitation appears in autumn on the north side, but in summer on the south side. In terms of the diurnal variation, the amount frequency and intensity on the southern side for summer and autumn seasons are all with the morning peak as the main peak. Only in the summer, the precipitation frequency has a secondary peak in the afternoon, while the diurnal variation of the northern side of the precipitation varies greatly in summer and autumn. The secondary peak is mainly contributed by the precipitation intensity, which is stronger in the afternoon in summer, and stronger in the early morning in autumn. In both north and south regions, precipitation events that last for more than 9 hours (less than 3 hours) get the peak in the early morning (afternoon) in summer and autumn, and the difference between the north and the south is mainly in the precipitation events that last 4-8 hours.

Keywords

• diurnal variation of precipitation
• north-south qinling
• difference between summer and autumn
• spatial variation