Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008

3. PRECIPITATION
Precipitation is fall of rain, sleet, snow, or hail in an area. Water evaporates from water
surfaces like streams, rivers, oceans, and ponds and also from the land and plants, in the
form of water vapor. This water vapor gets collected in the atmosphere and behaves like a
gas. Under a normal range of temperature and pressure, the water vapor obeys the various
gas laws. As the evaporation continues, the amount of atmospheric vapor goes on
increasing. But since a space can hold only a certain fixed amount of water vapor in the
presence of a solid or a liquid surface, a state is reached when any further addition of vapor
will get condensed on the surfaces. The vapor may get condensed in different forms, such as
mist, rain, hail, snow, sleet, etc. The evaporated water thus returns to the earth surface in any
of these forms. The water, which comes back to the surface of the earth and its various
forms, like rain, snow, hail, sleet, etc. is known as precipitation. Hence Precipitation is the fall
of water in various forms on the earth from the clouds. The usual forms of the precipitation
are rain and snow, although it may also occur in the form of sleet, glaze, hail, dew and frost.

The term precipitation denotes all forms of water that reach the earth from the atmosphere.
The usual forms are rainfall, snowfall, hail, frost and dew. Of all these, only the first two
contribute significant amounts of water. The magnitude of precipitation varies with time and
space. Differences in the magnitude of rainfall in various parts of a country at a given time
and variations of rainfall at a place in various seasons of the year are obvious and need no
elaboration. It is this variation that is responsible for many hydrological problems such as
floods and droughts.

3.1. Forms of Precipitation

Some of the common forms of precipitation are: rain, snow, drizzle, glaze, sleet, and hail.

Rain: It is the principal form of precipitation. The term rainfall is used to describe precipitation
in the form of water drops of sizes greater than 0.5 mm. The maximum size of a raindrop is
about 6 mm. Any drop larger than this size tends to break up into drops of smaller size during
its fall from the clouds. On the basis of its intensity, rainfall is classified as:

Type Intensity
1. Light rain trace to 2.5 mm/h
2. Moderate rain 2.5 mm/ h to 7.5 mm/h
3. Heavy rain > 7.5 mm/h

Snow: Snow is another important form of precipitation. Snow consists of ice crystals, which
usually combine to form flakes. When new, snow has an initial density varying from 0.06 to
0.15 g/cm 3 and it is usual to assume an average density of 0.1 g/cm 3.

Drizzle: A fine sprinkle of numerous water droplets of size less than 0.5 mm and intensity
less than 1mm/h is known as drizzle. In this, the drops are so small that they appear to float
in the air.
Glaze: - when rain or drizzle comes in contact with cold ground at around 0 0c, the water
drops freeze to form as ice coating called glaze or freezing rain.
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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
Sleet: - It is frozen raindrops of transparent grains, which form when rain falls through air at
subfreezing temperature. In Britain, sleet denotes precipitation of snow and rain
simultaneously.

Hail: - It is a showery precipitation in the form of irregular pellets or lumps of ice of size more
than 8mm. Hails occur in violent thunder storms in which vertical currents are very strong.

3.2. Conditions for Occurrence of Precipitation

Moisture is the form of vapor that is always present in the atmosphere, although it may not be
visible on a cloudless day. Precipitation may occur only when there is some mechanism to
cool the atmospheric air to bring it to saturation of air does not necessarily lead to
precipitation. Precipitation occurs when the following four conditions are satisfied.

1. Cooling of air masses. 2. Formation of clouds due to condensation

3. Growth of water droplets. 4. Accumulation of moisture.

1. Cooling of air masses: Cooling occurs when air ascends from the earth surface to the
upper levels in the atmosphere. The decrease in temperature of the undisturbed
atmospheric air with an increase in altitude is called lapse rate. The lapse rate is about
6.5oC per km increase in altitude with in the troposphere. However, the temperature
remains more or less constant in the lower part of stratosphere. The precipitation
depends upon the rate and amount of cooling. Depending upon the process causing
lifting and cooling the precipitation is classified as orographic, convective or cyclonic, as
discussed in the next article.

2. Formation of clouds due to condensation: condensation occurs when the water

vapor in the atmosphere is converted into liquid droplets or into ice crystals when the
temperature is quite low. Clouds are formed due to condensation. The clouds are
nothing but liquid water droplets (or the ice crystals) floating in air, (water droplets in a
cloud are somewhat analogous to the solid particles in a colloidal suspension.) It is
worth noting that saturation of water vapor does not necessarily result in condensation
and formation of clouds. Small solid particles, called condensation nuclei or the
hygroscopic nuclei, are essential for the conversion of water vapors into water droplets.
Fortunately condensation nuclei, which are of the size 0.001 micron to 10 micron (1
micron =10-6m), are usually present in the atmosphere due to combustion of solids and
due to salt particles from the sea. However, the number of nuclei per cm 3 varies
between a few to several millions in different regions of the atmosphere. The rate of
condensation increases as the number of nuclei increases. In general, there are usually
sufficient condensation nuclei in the air to cause condensation as soon as the saturation
occurs.

3. Growth of water droplets: the size of water droplets in a cloud is usually very small. It
is about 0.02mm in diameter. The weight of these droplets is so small that even an
upward air current of 2.5mm/s will not allow them to fall on the ground. It is therefore
necessary that the size of these droplets must increase before the precipitation can
occur. Coalescence of droplets occurs to form larger raindrops, which are large enough
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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
to overcome air resistance when falling. The coalescence takes place due to difference
of velocity of the larger droplets and small droplets, and due to coexistence of ice
crystals and water droplets in clouds. The boundary line between the water droplets and
the raindrop is usually taken as 0.2mm. However, the diameter of most of raindrops
reaching the ground is much greater than 0.2mm.

4. Accumulation of moisture: The air must contain sufficient amount of moisture so that
appreciable precipitation can occur after meeting the evaporation losses between the
clouds and the ground. Accumulation of moisture in atmosphere occurs due to
evaporation from land, vegetation and water surfaces.

3.3. Types and Measurement of Precipitation

Types of Precipitation: - Precipitation is always typed according to the factor mainly

responsible for lifting which causes it. Accordingly there are three types of precipitation. They
are

1. Cyclonic precipitation 2. Convective precipitation

3. Orographic precipitation

1. Cyclonic precipitation: results from the lifting of air converging into a low-pressure area,
or cyclone. A cyclone is a large zone of low pressure, which is surrounded by circular wind
motion. Air tends to move into the low-pressure zone from surrounding areas and
displaces low-pressure air upwards. The winds blow spirally inward counter-clockwise in
the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. Cyclonic precipitation
occurs due to displacement of air in the upward direction. The normal extent of a cyclone
is about 100 to 200km in diameter. The center of the storm called the eye, which may
extend up to about 10 to 50km, is relatively quite; but outside the eye, very strong winds
blow with a speed as high as 200km/hr. The rainfall is usually quite heavy in the entire
area occupied by the cyclone. Cyclonic precipitation may be classified as either frontal or
non-frontal. Frontal precipitation results from the lifting of warm air on one side of a
frontal surface over colder, denser air on the other side. Non- Frontal precipitation
results from if low pressure occurs in an area, air will flow horizontally from the
surrounding area causing the air in low-pressure area to lift.

2. Convective precipitation: Convective precipitation occurs due to heating of air. The

rising of warmer, lighter air in cold, denser surroundings causes it. The difference in
temperature may result from unequal heating at the surface, unequal cooling at the top of
the air layer or mechanical lifting when the air is forced to pass over a denser, colder air
mass or over a mountain barrier. The air close to the earth surface gets heated, and its
density decreases. Consequently, the air rises upward in the atmosphere and it gets
cooled adiabatically to form a cloud. Precipitation caused by such clouds is called
convective precipitation. Convective precipitation is usually of very short duration. It
occurs in the form of local whirling thunderstorms and is typical of the tropical regions. It is
called tornado when accompanied by high velocity, destructive winds. Convective
precipitation covers a small area, usually less than 50km 2. The rainfall intensity (i.e. rainfall
per unit time) may be very high. Sometimes it may even reach 10cm/hour. In short
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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
convective precipitation is spotty, and its intensity may range from light shower to
cloudbursts.

3. Orographic precipitation: Orographic precipitation occurs due to lifting of moist air over
mountains, i.e., it results from mechanical lifting over mountain barriers. It results in
cooling, condensation and precipitation. Heavy precipitation occurs on the windward side
of the mountain, whereas on the leeward side, there is very little precipitation.

Measurement of Precipitation: - In order to estimate the effect of precipitation, it is

necessary to measure the precipitation, and to find out its distribution at various places on the
earth. All forms of precipitation are expressed in terms of the vertical depth of water that
would accumulate on a level surface if all the precipitation were collected on it.

A variety of instruments and techniques have been developed for gathering information on
precipitation. Since the amount of precipitation varies from place to place, it is necessary to
install measuring devices (gauges) at various key points. The simplest method of measuring
precipitation is by setting up gauges with a horizontal circular aperture of known area and
collecting & measuring at regular intervals the precipitation collected in them.

Types of Rain gauges: Any open receptacle (container or vessel) with vertical sides can be
used as a gauge for measuring rainfall, and they are called rain gauges. A rain gauge
essentially consists of an open cylindrical vessel assembly kept in vertical position to collect
raindrops (precipitation). The rainfall catch of the rain gauge can be affected by the conditions
of exposure to its surrounding. To enable the catch of rain gauge to accurately represent the
rainfall in the area surrounding the rain gauge, the following standard settings have to be
adopted while selecting a site for the rain gauge station and installing the rain gauge.

(i) The site should be in an open space having an area of at least 5.5m X 5.5m;
(ii)The distance of the instrument from the nearest obstruction should not be less than
30m or twice the height of the obstruction;
(iii) A site that is sheltered from high winds should be chosen;
(iv) The rain gauge, as far as possible, should not be installed on the top or the side of
the hill. If unavoidable, the site that is best protected from high winds should be
chosen;
(v) A fence should be erected around the rain gauge station to protect the gauge from
cattle, dogs, etc;
(vi) The gauge must always be mounted firmly so that it cannot be disturbed even by the
strongest wind in that region;
(vii) The gauge should be set as near the ground surface as possible to reduce wind
effects. But at the same time it should be sufficiently high to prevent splashing and
flooding of surface water into it.
Two kinds of rain gauges are generally used. They are “non – recording type” and “recording
type” rain gauges.

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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
1) Non - recording rain gauge: - they are non-recording because they do not record the
rain but only collect the rain. The collected rain is then measured by means of graduated
cylinders so as to directly represent the rainfall volume in cm of water depth. That is,

Area

Collector
Funnel
Locking ring

G.L.
h cm

Polythene bottle

Base masonry or concrete foundation

Figure 3: A rain gauge (non-recording types)

The non-recording gauge essentially consists of a circular collecting area of 12.7cm. (5.0
inch) diameter connected to a funnel. The rim of the collector is set in a horizontal plane at a
height of 30.5cm above the ground level. The funnel discharges the rainfall catch into a non-
recording vessel. The funnel and non-recording vessel are housed in a metallic container.
The figure given above shows the details of the installation.

For uniformity, the rainfall is measured everyday at 8.30 a.m. and is recorded as the rainfall of
that day. The receiving bottle normally does not hold more that 10 cm of rain and as such in
the case of heavy rainfall the measurements must be done more frequently and entered with
in the daily precipitation. However, the last reading must be taken at 8.30 a.m. and the sum of
the previous reading in the past 24 hours entered as total of the day. Proper care,
maintenance and inspection of rain gauges especially during dry weather to keep the
instrument free from dust and dirt is very necessary. This rain gauge can also be used to
measure snowfall. When snow is expected, the funnel and receiving bottle are removed and
snow is attached to collect in the outer metal container. Anti freeze agents are some time
used to facilitate melting of snow. In areas where considerable snowfall is expected, special
snow gauge with shields (for minimizing the wind effect) and storage pipes (to collect snow
over longer durations) are used.

The non-recording type rain gauges of the following to types are quite common.
(a) Symon’s rain gauge (b) IMD rain gauge
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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008

(a) Symon’s rain gauge: The Symon rain gauge consists of a cylindrical vessel, called metal
casing, of 12.7 cm diameter, and a base of 21.0 cm. The metal casing is fixed vertically to
a masonry foundation block of the size 60 cm X 60cm X 60cm. A funnel with a circular
rim of 12.7cm and a glass bottle are placed in the metal casing. The height of the metal
casing is fixed so that the rim is 30.5 cm above the ground surface. The glass bottle,
called the receiver, is of 7.5 to 10cm diameter. The rain gauge is kept open. The rain
falling into the funnel is collected in the receiver. The receiver, with the rainwater in it, is
taken out of the metal casing. The rainfall depth is measured with a special measuring
glass jar graduated in mm of rainfall. It can measure up to 12.5mm of rainfall. During
heavy rains, the rainfall may be measured 3 or 4 times in a day, but the last
measurement should be taken at a standard time, say, 08.30 hours. The total rainfall of
the day is obtained by adding all the individual measurements of day.

(b) I.M.D Standard Rain Gauge: The Symon rain gauge was used by Indian metrological
Department (IMD) up to 1969 when the IMD standard gauge was adopted. It is a
modified version of the Symon rain gauge. The standard rain gauge consists of a
collector with a gunmetal rim. The exposed surface area of the collector is either 100cm 2
or 200cm2. The collector is fitted over a base, which is fixed to a masonry or concrete
foundation. Both the collector and the base are made of fiberglass-reinforced polyester.
Locking rings can lock the collector to the base. The collector has a deep-set funnel
which discharges into a polyethylene bottle kept inside the base. The capacity of the
bottle can be 2, 4 or 10 litters. The rain collected in the bottle is measured with a
graduated cylinder, which directly gives the rainfall in mm or cm. The nominal capacity of
the rain gauge can be 100, 200, 400,500 or 1000mm, depending upon the area of the
collector and the capacity of the bottle used in the measurement. The 200mm nominal
capacity rain gauge has 200cm2 collector and 4 liter capacity bottle and is the most
commonly used gauge.

The advantage of the standard rain gauge over the Symon gauge is that it can be installed in
such a way that the rim is always at a standard height of 30cm above the ground surface
irrespective of the nominal capacity. It may be mentioned again that a non-recording type rain
gauge gives the total depth of rainfall for the previous 24 hours but does not give the duration
and intensity of the rainfall.

2) Recording gauges: - These are those rain gauges, which can give a permanent automatic
rainfall record without any bottle reading. There is a mechanical arrangement by which the
total amount of rain fallen, since the record was started, gets recorded automatically on a
graph paper. The gauge produces a record of cumulative rain Vs time in the form of a graph,
which is known as mass curve of rain fallen as shown below.
P2

P2-P1
Precipitation, t2-t1
P1 cm

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t1 t2 Time (t)
Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008

Figure 4: Mass curve of rainfall

(P2-P1)/(t2-t1) = dP/dT = Rate of rainfall or intensity of rainfall.

Besides giving the total amount of rain fallen at a station, such a curve will also help in
indicating the times of onset and cessation of a rain and, thereby indicating its duration.
Moreover, the slope of the curve gives us the intensity of rainfall for any given period as
indicated on the figure above. The gauges are also called Integrating rain gauges since
such gauges represent the cumulative rains. These gauges can provide us with continuous
recorded measurements for a number of days. They are of great utility in hilly and far-off
areas, where it is not practically feasible to daily visit the gauge station. Such gauges are,
therefore, some times known as continuous rain gauges. Various models have been
designed for recording gauges.

There are three types of recording gauges in common use. They include tipping: bucket type,
weighing type and floating type. In general such a gauge consists of a rotating drum with a
graph paper fixed around it and a pen in contact with the graph paper that moves up with
collected rain, and thus recording the cumulative rain with the passage of time. Currently
there are gauges recording on magnetic tape or solid-state memory devices in use. Their
advantage is that it can be read directly into a computer.

In the Tipping - Bucket gauge, the rainwater is first caught in a collector and then funneled
into a two-compartment bucket. When 0.25mm, 0.1 mm or some other designed quantity of
rain will fill one compartment & overbalance the bucket so that it tips, emptying into a
reservoir and moving the secondRaincompartment
water into place beneath the funnel as shown in the
following figure. As the bucket is tipped, it actuates an electric circuit as a result of which a
pen will mark on a revolving drum. The movement of the tipping can be transmitted
electronically over distances & hence such gauges are

Circular collector
Reservoir

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Measuring glass 7
Funnel
A two-compartment tipping bucket
Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008

Figure 5: The recording mechanism of Tipping bucket type recording rain gauge
generally installed in hilly & inaccessible areas, from where they can supply measurements
directly in the control room at the meteorological station. No graph paper or dram etc in the
gauge is, thus installed, and the rainfall measurements are directly recorded at the control
room, and the gauges are left without any watch and ward, except for periodic repairs and
visits etc.

The weighing type gauge weighs the rain or snow, which falls into a bucket placed on the
platform of a spring or lever balance or any other weighing mechanism, as shown in the
following figure. The increasing weight of the bucket & its contents is recorded on a chart
indicating the accumulation of precipitation.
Rainwater
Weighing mechanism

Graph paper wrapped round a rotating drum

Recording pen

Figure 6: The recording mechanism of Tipping bucket type recording rain gauge

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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
In floating gauges the rise of the float with increasing catch of rainfall is recorded. It helps to
lift the pen point that goes on recording the cumulative rain with time on a graph paper
wrapped round a rotating drum. Various types of Float recording gauges are in use these
days. Such a gauge may be emptied either manually or by self - starting siphons. A float type
gauge provided with a self-starting siphoning arrangement is most widely used these days
and is popularly called natural siphon recording rain gauge.

The recording mechanism for a natural siphon-recording rain gauge is as follows. The
rainwater entering the gauge at the top of the cover is led via the funnel to the receiver,
consisting of a float chamber and a siphon chamber. A pen is mounted on the stem of the
float, and as the water level rise in the receiver, the float arises and the pen records on a
chart wrapped round clockwise rotating drum, the amount of water in the receiver at any
instance. The rotating drum completes one revolution in 24 hours, or some times in 7 days,
depending upon the gauge, and the graph chart will have to be replaced after this much of
time. Siphoning occurs, automatically when the pen records the top of the chart, and as the
rain continues the pen rises again from the zero line of the chart. If there is no rain, the pen
traces a horizontal line, from where it leaves off rising.

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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
3.4. Designing Rain Gauge Network

Rainfall records constitute the most important & fundamental data required for hydrological
investigations. They are required for analyzing storms, fixing design floods, forecasting floods
in a river, reservoir regulation etc. For all such studies and investigations, a well-distributed
network of rain gauge stations with in the catchment, is essential.

The spatial variability of precipitation and the intended uses of the data should suffice the
network density. A relatively sparse network of stations would suffice for studies of large
general storms or for determining annual averages over large area of level terrain. A very
dense network is uired to determine the rainfall pattern in thunderstorms.

To get reliable results, the various rain gauges should be evenly & uniformly distributed with
in a given catchment. In general, since the catching area of a rain gauge is very small
compared to the areal coverage of a storm, it is obvious that to get a representative picture of
a storm over a catchment the number of rain gauges should be as large as possible, i.e. the
catchment area per gauge should be small. On the other hand, economic and other
considerations, such as topography, accessibility, and etc. may restrict to some extent the
member of gauges to be maintained. Hence it has to be aimed at designing an optimum
density of gauges from which reasonably accurate information about the storms can be
obtained. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recommends the following
minimum densities of precipitation network.

In flat regions of temperate, Mediterranean and tropical zones:

1 station per 600 - 900 km2
Acceptable - 1 station for 900 - 3000 km2
In mountainous regions of temperate, Mediterranean and tropical zones:
1 station per 100 - 250 km2
Acceptable - 1 station for 250 - 1000 km2
For small mountainous islands with irregular precipitation:
1 station per 25 km2
In arid and polar zones:
1 station per 1500 - 10, 000 km2, depending upon the feasibility.

Ten percent of rain gauge stations should be equipped with self- recording gauges to know
the intensities of rainfall.

There are two methods of designing rain gauges network.

1) The first one is based the world meteorological organization recommendations,
2) The second one is based on statistical method.

Statistical Methods: - Statistics has been used in determining the optimum number of rain
gauges required to be installed in a catchment. The basis behind such statistical calculation is
that a certain number of rain gauge stations are necessary to give average rainfall with a
certain percentage of errors. If the allowable percentage is more, lesser number of gauges
would be required. Based up on this statistical principle, the optimum number of rain gauges
(N) can be obtained by the following equation. That is

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(C )
2

V
N=
∈
Where N = optimal number of stations
ε = allowable degree of (percentage) error in the estimate of the mean rainfall
and
CV = coefficient of variation of the rainfall values at the existing m stations (%)

If there are n stations in the catchment each recording average annual rainfall values of P 1,
P2, P3, …, Pn, the coefficient of variation CV is calculated as follows:

i) Calculate mean average annual rainfall value

where n is the number of rain gauges existing and the total rainfall i.e., summation of
their normal annual rainfalls.

ii) Calculate mean of squares as

iii) Calculate the sample standard deviation, σ

iv) Calculate the coefficient of variation, Cv;

In calculating N from above equation it is usual to take e = 10%. It is seen that if the value of e
is small, then the number of rain gauge stations will be more.

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3.5. Estimating Missing Rainfall Data

Before using the rainfall record of a station, it is necessary to first check the data for
continuity and consistency. The continuity of a record may be broken with missing data due to
many reasons. Sometimes the rainfall amount, at a certain rain gauge station, for a certain
day or period may be missing due to absence of observer or instrumental failure. In such
cases the missing data can be estimated by using the data of the neighboring stations. In
these calculations the normal rainfall is used as a standard of comparison. (Note: Usually the
normal rainfall is the average value of rainfall for a particular date, month or year averaged
over a specified period of time. 30-years period is recommended for the computation of the
normal rainfall and the 30-year normal is recomputed every decade. Thus the term normal
annual precipitation at station A means the average annual precipitation at A based on
specified 30-years of record).

The following methods are generally adopted for computing the missing rainfall data. Choose
three rain gauge stations as close to and as evenly spaced around the station with missing
record (station X). Collect the rainfall data for the three stations (1,2,3) on the day(s) for which
the data at station X are missing. The average annual rainfall values at all the four stations
(1,2,3,X) should also be known.

If the average annual rainfalls of stations 1,2 &3 differ with in 10% of the average annual
rainfall of station X, then simple arithmetic average of the three index stations will give the
estimate for the missing record. i.e,

If N1, N2, N3 and Nx represent average annual rainfalls of stations 1,2,3, & X respectively and
when the average annual precipitation at any of these three differ from that of the station in
question by more than 10% the normal ratio method is used.

Nx P1 P2 P3
Px = ----- [ ---- + --- + ----- ]
3 N 1 N2 N3

3.6. Average Annual Rainfall and Index of Wetness

Daily rainfall is the amount of rain collected by a given rain gauge in 24 hours. Annual rainfall
is the amount of rain collected in one year. The annual rainfall at a given station should be
recorded over a number of years, and the mean of the annual rainfalls over a period of time is
known as average annual rainfall/ normal annual rainfall. (Note: Usually the normal
rainfall is the average value of rainfall for a particular date, month or year averaged over a
specified period of time. 30-years period is recommended for the computation of the normal
rainfall and the 30-year normal is recomputed every decade. Thus the term normal annual
precipitation at station A means the average annual precipitation at A based on specified 30-
years of record).

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Index of wetness is the ratio of the actual rainfall in a given particular year at a given place
to the normal rainfall of that place. That is

Index of wetness gives an idea of the wetness of the year, and it indicates the deficiency of
rain when it is less than 100%. 60% index of wetness means a rain deficiency of 40%.

3.7. Methods of Areal Assessment/The Mean Rainfall over a Drainage Basin

A given drainage basin is divided into various parts or sub-basins because of variations in the
topographic features of the basin, and hence the rain gauge stations have to be evenly
distributed over that basin. The rain catch at one station in a basin may be different from that
of second station in the same basin mainly due to spatial variability of rainfall over the basin.
Hence an average value of these rain catches has to be worked out so as to get an idea of
average precipitation on the entire basin. There are three methods that are used to get the
mean rainfall over an area. They are

i) Arithmetical mean Method

ii) Thiessen’s polygon method
iii) Isohyetal Method

1) Arithmetical Mean Method: - This is the simplest method that can be used. It consists of
averaging all the amounts that have been recorded at the various stations in the area, as
shown below.
P1 +P 2 +. .. .. ..+P i +.. .. . .. .. Pn 1 N
P= = ∑ pi
N N i=1
where:
The mean precipitation on the basin;
P1, P2, P3, …, Pn
N= the total number of the stations in the basin.

2) Thiessen’s Polygon Method: - In this method the weighted mean rainfall depth for a
catchment is obtained using the rainfall depths at stations both inside the area and in its
immediate surroundings. The weighted mean is determined by dividing the areas served by
the rain gauge stations into a series of polygons that are constructed according to the
Thiessen’s method. The use of Thiessen’s method is recommended when the stations are not
evenly distributed over the area. The Thiessen’s method assumes that the rainfall recorded at
a station is representative to the area halfway to the stations adjoining it and the area for
which each station is assumed to be representative is the area of its polygon, and this area is
used as a weighing factor for its rainfall. The following steps are involved in constructing
Thiessen’s polygons.

i) Adjacent stations are joined by straight lines, thus dividing the entire area into a
series of triangles.
ii) Perpendicular bisectors are erected on each of these lines thus forming a series of
polygons each containing one and only one rainfall station.
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iii) It is assumed that the entire area within any polygon is nearer to the station than to
any other rainfall station. The rainfall recorded at that station is, therefore, assigned
to that polygon. If P is the mean rain fall on the basin, and area of the basin is A,
then

where P1, P2, P3, …, Pn represent rainfalls at the respective stations whose surrounding
polygons have the areas A1, A2, A3, …, An respectively. A graphical representation of this is
shown below for a rain gauge network consisting four stations.

1 Δ
Δ 2
Δ Δ
†
† † †
† † †
4 3
Figure 6: An illustration of the construction of Thiessen’s polygon

3) The Isohyetal method: - The Isohyetal method can be applied when the rainfall is not
evenly distributed over the area (because of differences in topography). This approach
involves drawing contours equal rainfall depth, known as isohyets (an isohyet is a line joining
points of equal rainfall magnitude) by interpolation from the recorded (observed) rainfall
depths plotted on a map of the river basin. By hand the method is laborious & time
consuming, but flexible in that the position of the isohyets can be adjusted to incorporate the
effects of sharp changes in topography. The area between the adjacent isohyets is either
estimated on the graph paper or measured by planimeter. Let the areas be A 1, A2, A3, …, An;
and let the average precipitation for these areas be P 1, P2, P3, …, Pn; then the mean
precipitation P on the basin is given by

A graphical representation of this is shown below for a rain gauge network consisting eight
stations.

2
3

4
.8 A3
A2 A1 1

5 7
6

Figure 7: An illustration of the use of Isohyetal maps.

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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008

Relative merits of the above methods

1) Arithmetic mean method: - An advantage of the arithmetic mean is its simplicity.

This method yields good results only if the topography is relatively flat, with a large
number of gauge stations evenly distributed over the entire area and the individual
gauge measurements do not vary widely from the mean.

2) Thiessen’s method: - Advantage of this method is that the influence of the rain
gauge around the catchments outside it is also taken into account. The graphical
construction for computations, of areas of influence around each gauge station
remains the same and can be used and reused for different storms.

3) Isohyets: - This method is considered to be the most accurate one for arriving at
the mean rainfall over an area. However, the accuracy depends upon the skill of
the analyst who interpolates the contours. This method involves drawing of fresh
contours for every storm and to this extent it is considered laborious & time
consuming.

3.8. Verification of Rainfall Record (Data) By Double –Mass Analysis

(Testing for Consistency of Records)

Some times a significant change may occur in and around a particular rain gauge station.
Such changes as changes in gauge location, exposure, instrumentation, or observational
procedure may cause a relative change in the precipitation catch. Frequently these changes
are not disclosed in the published records. However, such a change that occurred in a
particular year would start affecting the consistency of the rainfall records of the rain gauge
station, (data being reported from that particular station). And after a number of years, it may
be felt that the data for that station are not giving consistent rainfall values. In order to detect
any such inconsistency, and to correct and adjust the reported rainfall values, a technique
called double mass analysis is usually used. Double-mass analysis tests the consistency of
the record at a station by comparing its accumulated annual or seasonal precipitation with the
concurrent accumulated values of mean precipitation for a group of surrounding stations. The
common causes of inconsistency of record can be summarized as follow.
(i) Shifting of a rain gauge station to a new station,
(ii) The neighbor hood of the station under going a marked change,
(iii) Change in the ecosystem due to calamities such as forest fires, land slides and
(iv) Occurrence of observational error from a certain data.

The records are adjusted by the ratio of the slope of the two segments of the double- mass
curve, i.e., (X/Y) and those showing inconsistent records should be dropped before other
stations are tested or adjusted. (A change due to meteorological causes would not cause a
change in slope, as all base stations would be similarly affected). In detail the technique is
discussed below.

A group of 5 to 10 base stations in the neighbor hood of the station with problem, X, have to
be selected. The data of the annual (or monthly) rainfall of the station X and also the average

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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
rainfall of the group of base stations covering a long period have to be arranged in the
reverse chronological order (i.e. the latest record as the first entry and the oldest record as
the last entry in the list). The accumulated precipitation of the station X (i.e. åPX) and the
accumulated values of the average of the group of base stations (i.e. åPav) are calculated
starting from the latest record. Values of åPX are plotted against åPav for various consecutive
time periods. A definite break in the slope of the resulting plot indicates a change in the
precipitation regime of station X. The precipitation values at station X beyond the period of
change of regime thus have to be corrected by using the relations as follows.
Accumulated precipitation of the station

Slope X

Slope
It indicates
Y where there is a change in the precipitation record of a station

Concurrent accumulated mean precipitation for a group of surrounding stations

Figure 8: Double-mass analysis graph.

M M
Correction factor =
c
P CX = P c

M , M
x
a a

Where, PCX = corrected precipitation at any time period t1 at station X

Px = original recorded precipitation at time period t1 at station X
Mc = corrected slope of the double-mass curve.
Ma = original slope of the double-mass curve

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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008

Example: The annual rainfall data, being reported from a station A, for 22 years are available
since 1969. In order to check the consistency of these data, six neighboring stations have
been chosen and the annual rainfall values of these stations have been averaged for all the
years on record since 1969. These values are given in the following table.
Year Yearly 6 station Year Yearly 6 station
precipitation average precipitation average
at station A Precipitation at station A Precipitation
(cm) (cm) (cm) (cm)
1969 177 143 1980 158 164
1970 144 132 1981 145 155
1971 178 146 1982 132 143
1972 162 147 1983 95 115
1973 194 161 1984 148 135
1974 168 155 1985 142 163
1975 196 152 1986 140 135
1976 144 117 1987 130 143
1977 160 128 1988 137 130
1978 196 193 1989 130 146
1979 141 156 1990 163 161

(a) Find out if any inconsistency in precipitation record of station A is indicated? And if yes,
since when a change in the precipitation regime is indicated?
(b) Adjust the recorded data at station A and determine its mean annual precipitation.
Solution:
The given data is arranged in a reverse chronological order and their cumulative values are
worked out in the following table:

year yearly ppt. at stn. Cumulative 6 stn. av. yearly Cumulative 6

A, Pa (cm) yearly ppt. at A ppt. Pav (cm) stn. av. yearly
åPa (cm) ppt. åPav (cm)
1 2 3 4 5
1990 163 163 161 161
89 130 293 146 307
88 137 430 130 437
87 130 560 143 580
86 140 700 135 715
85 142 842 163 878
84 148 990 135 1013
83 95 1085 115 1128
82 132 1217 143 1271
81 145 1362 155 1426
80 158 1520 164 1590
79 141 1661 156 1746
78 196 1857 193 1939
77 160 2017 128 2067
76 144 2161 117 2184
75 196 2357 152 2336
74 168 2525 155 2491
73 194 2719 161 2652
72 162 2881 147 2799
71 178 3059 146 2945
70 144 3203 132 3077
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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
69 177 3380 143 3220

A graph is now plotted between the values of col.3 and 5 as shown in the graph.
Corresponding years from col.1 are also marked on the corresponding plotted points as
shown in this figure.
accumulated precipitation of the station (cm)

Double Mass Analysis

3600

3300

3000

2700

2400

2100

1800
Breaking point
1500

1200

900

600

300

0
0 300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 2100 2400 2700 3000 3300 3600
Accumulated mean Precipitation of the surrounding staions (cm)

A perusal of the above figure shows that the inconsistency has occurred from 1978. Hence
the present data, since 1978 to 1990 will be treated as correct and the previous data prior to
the year 1978 will be corrected. In other words, the precipitation values of years 1977 to 1969
will be corrected.

The correction ratio is read out from this figure

=
M C
=
Corrected slope of the double mass curve

M a
Original slope of the double mass curve

c 1 .040
= = =0 .825
a 1 .260
The yearly precipitation values of station A (P a ) between the years 1977 to 1969 are thus
corrected by multiplying the original values by 0.825 as shown in the following table:

Year Given ppt. Corrected Year Given ppt. Corrected

values Pa ppt. values values Pa ppt. values
(cm) Pa¢ (cm) = (cm) Pa¢ (cm) =
0.825 x Pa 0.825 x Pa
1977 160 132 1972 162 134
1976 144 119 1971 178 147
1975 196 162 1970 144 119
1974 168 139 1969 177 146
1973 194 160 - - -

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Hawassa University, faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering department Academic year 2008
The final adjusted values of annual precipitation at station A are serialled in the following table
and their mean value is determined as equal to 141.6 cm.

Year Yearly ppt. at Corrected Year Yearly ppt. at Corrected

station A annual station A annual ppt.
(cm) precipitation (cm) values at
values at station A (cm)
station A (cm)
1969 177 146 1980 158 158
1970 144 119 1981 145 145
1971 178 147 1982 132 132
1972 162 134 1983 95 95
1973 194 160 1984 148 148
1974 168 139 1985 142 142
1975 196 162 1986 140 140
1976 144 119 1987 130 130
1977 160 132 1988 137 137
1978 196 196 1989 130 130
1979 141 141 1990 163 163
å = 3115
\Av. = 3115 / 22 = 141.6 cm

Engineering Hydrology Lecture notes 19