Document Type
Article
DOI
10.25778/3cay-z849
Abstract
Water is an important resource for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Too much water increases runoff, disrupt transportation networks, and contributes to school closures. Too little water may adversely impact agricultural operations. To improve climate-related information to Virginia citizens, this study assesses means and changes in precipitation across the Commonwealth of Virginia (1947 – 2016). Using daily station-level precipitation data from the Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN), descriptive statistics were calculated for 43 locations in terms of total precipitation (inches decade-1), precipitation days (x>0”), and heavy precipitation days (x>1.0”). On average, locations showed an overall increase in total precipitation across the time period. The frequency of heavy rainfall events has also increased across many of the analyzed locations. Precipitation has important ramifications for agriculture, storm water management, and hazard response, and improved coordination of atmospheric-related information may be beneficial to various stakeholders across the Commonwealth.
Recommended Citation
Allen, M. J. and T. R. Allen. 2019. Precipitation Trends across the Commonwealth of Virginia (1947 – 2016). Virginia Journal of Science 70 (1/2): 1-16. doi: 10.25778/3cay-z849. Available at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol70/iss1/4
"online ahead of print" version
Comments
This article has been copyedited and reformatted and is now in its final version. The early “online ahead of print” version is available for reference as an "Additional File" (below).