Abstract
This study examines hourly precipitation data from 128 national meteorological observation stations within the Sichuan Basin (SB) spanning 2002 to 2021, focusing on warm-season (May to September) hourly extreme precipitation (HEP) and its events (HEPEs). Significant spatial variability is observed across the SB regarding thresholds, amount, intensity, and frequency of warm-season HEP. HEP predominantly occurs from mid-July to early August, with a higher probability of peak events in the afternoon during these months. HEPEs starting from midnight to early morning tend to have prolonged durations, whereas, in the afternoon, prompt-duration HEPEs lasting within 3 h are more prevalent. Around the basin, the northwest and northeast regions experience HEPEs with higher precipitation amounts but fewer occurrences. The northwestern region encounters shorter-duration HEPEs with greater rainfall intensity, while the northeastern region records a higher frequency of moderate or weak HEPEs lasting ≥ 13 h. Comparatively, the southwestern basin exhibits a higher frequency of nocturnal HEP events characterized by relatively lower rainfall intensity. The eastern Sichuan parallel ridge-valley area in the southeastern basin demonstrates more frequent HEP occurrences with lower rainfall intensities. Additionally, mountainous regions of the southeastern SB and the southern branch of the eastern Sichuan parallel ridge-valley exhibit lower HEPE amounts but greater numbers of events, primarily characterized by prompt-duration events in the afternoon. These findings unveil the diverse spatiotemporal patterns of warm-season HEP and HEPEs within the SB, highlighting the regional variability across different geographical zones. This study provides insights for managing vital resources and timely natural disaster evacuation.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Chongqing Meteorological Bureau and Sichuan Meteorological Bureau.
Code availability
The readers are requested to contact the first author Qin Li regarding code and analysis.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Chongqing Meteorological Bureau and Sichuan Meteorological Bureau for providing the hourly precipitation data observed by national-level surface observational stations in China. Comments from the Editor and an anonymous reviewer are gratefully acknowledged.
Funding
The funding was provided by the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing, China (Grant No. CSTB2022NSCQ-MSX1461), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA23090101). And the Open Research Project of the State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (Project No. 2021LASW-B15).
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QL and XC conceived and conducted the experiments, established the computational framework, and conducted data analysis. WF meticulously handled nearly all technical intricacies. QL, FW, SY, YZ, and WZ collectively contributed to the research's design and execution, result analysis, and manuscript composition. The final review, editing, and approval were undertaken by XC. All authors provided feedback on this manuscript version, reviewed it, and endorsed the final draft.
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Li, Q., Wu, F., Yang, S. et al. Statistics of warm-season hourly extreme precipitation in the Sichuan Basin, China during 2002–2021. Theor Appl Climatol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-024-04897-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-024-04897-8