Analysis of heavy rain and typical torrential rain event in Southern China during 1961-2014

The spatial distribution and annual variation of heavy rain in Southern China during 1961-2014 were analyzed by using the daily precipitation at 145 automatic weather stations. The results show that the major type of rainstorm in Southern China is 50~100 mm of daily precipitation in the last 54 years, counting to nearly 80% among three types. The number of rainstorm day in the southern coastal area is much larger than that in the northwest. From 1961 to 2014, the largest number of rainstorm day is 9 in 2008, while the least number is 4 in 1963. Compared to other months, the largest number of rainstorm day occurs in June. There is an increasing trend of the rainstorm day number since the 60's. The number of typical torrential rain event is 312 during 1961-2014 in Southern China, and it is much larger in the early rainy season than the later rainy season.