Spatial and temporal characteristics of annual and seasonal precipitation variation in Shijiazhuang region, north China

Understanding spatial and temporal characteristics of annual and seasonal precipitation variation is vital in watershed development and management. In this study, we investigated the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of precipitation and its structure, the correlations between precipitation and large-scale atmospheric circulations in Shijiazhuang region, North China. We used daily precipitation data from 35 meteorological stations for the period 1955–2015 across Shijiazhuang regions. The results show that the number of annual precipitation days at 73.5% of stations showed an upward trend, but the annual precipitation intensity at more than 91% of stations showed a downward trend, indicating that the annual precipitation reduction trend was mainly due to the decrease in annual precipitation intensity. Annual precipitation was negatively correlated with the East Asian Summer Monsoon Index (EASMI), and the negative correlation showed the characteristic of decreasing from north to south. Annual precipitation was positively correlated with the South Asian summer monsoon index (SASMI), and the positive correlation showed the characteristic of decreasing from southwest to northeast.