| Abstract: | This paper analyses precipitation occurrence in time. The calculations were made with the data from continuous precipitation measurements by two automatic float‐type rainfall recorders (Hellmann type) during the 10‐year period 1984–1993. The measurement increment was 5 minutes with 0.1 mm resolution. The effect of different time increments on precipitation duration in a year has been researched. Calculations show that a smaller time increment diminishes the duration of precipitation in a year. If a 5‐minute time increment is used for calculation, the precipitation duration is about 3% of the year. If a 24‐hour time increment is used, the precipitation duration is 33% of the year. The real mean duration of yearly precipitation has been evaluated as 216 hours, that is 2.47% of the year. The appearance of a precipitation intensity higher than 0·2 mm/min has been researched during the year and over 24 hours. Analyses show that intensive precipitation appears during the warmer part of the year, from June to August. The precipitation distribution is not uniform over a day. In the city of Zagreb, where both rain gauge stations are situated, in 90% of the cases, the precipitation intensity higher than 1·2 mm/min falls during the night, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., at the same time causing floods. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
