Trends in the rainfall pattern over India

Abstract New monthly, seasonal and annual rainfall time series of 36 meteorological subdivisions of India were constructed using the monthly rainfall data for the period 1901–2003 of fixed network of 1476 rain gauge stations. In the new network, on an average, there is one rain gauge station for every 3402 Sq km area. The new rainfall series is temporally as well as spatially homogenous. Linear trend analysis was carried out to examine the long‐term trends in rainfall over different subdivisions and monthly contribution of each of the monsoon months to annual rainfall. During the south‐west monsoon season, three subdivisions viz. Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Kerala showed significant decreasing trend and eight…