CONVECTIVE RAINFALL REGIONS OF PUERTO RICO

✍ Scribed by CARTER, M. M.; ELSNER, J. B.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 763 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0899-8418
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0088(199609)16:9<1033::aid-joc77>3.0.co;2-h

✦ Synopsis

Geographical regions of covariability in hourly precipitation over the island of Puerto Rico are exposed using factor analysis. It is argued that the data are consistent with a common factor model when an orthgonal rotation is applied to the factor loading mamx. The results suggest that Puerto Rico can be divided into six regions, with each region having a similar covariance structure of summer season convective rainfall. The six regions can be grouped into a western area and an eastern area based on contrasting diurnal rainfall signatures. The study is the first step in developing improved forecast guidance for precipitation over the island. It is believed to be one of the first studies attempting geographical regionalization of precipitation on the convective scale.