This document is from the following journal:
Journal of Great Lakes Research 29(2): 256-267
International Association for Great Lakes Research, 2003
The web site of the journal is http://www.iaglr.org/
Full Text (.pdf file)
ABSTRACT. Hourly precipitation data from Oshtemo
Township, Michigan – located approximately 55 km east of the lee shore
of Lake Michigan -- for the period of April 1980 through March 2000 were
examined. Diurnal analysis of precipitation as well as time series
analysis of precipitation were performed on the study period. An
overall nocturnal maximum in the mean accumulation of precipitation was
detected during the two-hour periods before 2000 LST and 2200 LST.
Elevated spring and fall accumulations were responsible for this evening
maximum. Elevated summer and winter accumulations were responsible
for a weak secondary morning maximum. An overall morning maximum in
the mean precipitation hours was detected during the two-hour period before
1000 LST. ARIMA modeling verified that both precipitation accumulations
and counts, for all times of the day, were significant at the 5% level.
A storm event model was developed from the time series, the resulting values
of which can be used as input in mesoscale climate, hydrological and agricultural
computer models: the mean pulse duration was 2.44 hours; the mean interlude
between pulses was 37.64 hours; the mean event accumulation was 4.1 mm; and
the mean rate was 1.8 mm / hr. Finally, inter-annual analysis performed
for the period of 1981 to 1999 showed that there was no statistically significant
change in precipitation over the period.