ABSTRACT: This paper is a summary of relevant studies dealing with the analysis of the temporal rainfall variability in Israel. The diurnal patterns of rainfall differ between the southern and northern regions of the country. The spatial distribution of seasonal rainfall depends on the chosen time interval. While the monthly means exhibit a 1-peak sinusoidal pattern, averages over shorter intervals reveal more complicated functions. The various definitions of rain spell enable us to gain better insight into their annual and interannual distributions. Due to the lack of prolonged rainfall data from a reasonable number of stations, the study of rainfall periodicity, long-range contemporary rainfall variation and future scenarios will have to wait for further data to be accumulated.

KEY WORDS: Rainfall . Temporal variations . Rain spells . Israel

Published in CR Vol. 5, No. 2 (1995) on June 22
ISSN: 0936-577X. Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 1995