Diurnal Course of Rainfall in the Plain of Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Evaluation of Hourly Measurements

Summary The paper describes some characteristics of the precipitation patterns in the plain of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Even if small, this Region shows a complex rainfall pattern so that, by previous studies, it was divided into four distinct areas with peculiar pluviometric regimes, namely the Coastal Area, the Plain and Hills Area, the Prealpine Area and the Inner Alpine Area. Nowadays a new data set, collected by the ERSA/CSA automatic stations, allows to propose a new sub-classification of the Coastal Area and Plain and Hills Area, under the point of view of the hourly rate of precipitation. This new sub-classification is composed by five zones: the Coast, the Carso, the Low Plain, the Middle Plain and the Piedmont. Each one of these zones presents a peculiar seasonal behaviour of the hourly rain-rate. Received May 31, 1999 Revised September 27, 1999