Extreme dry weather intervals of the growing season in Bačka, Yugoslavia

Abstract

A method of describing and analyzing the stochastic process of droughts, which are defined here as the upper extremes of intervals of no rainfall, is recommended. All important components of extreme dry weather intervals such as their duration, time of occurrence, their total number in a given time interval [0, t], the longest drought duration in a given time interval [0, t], and time T(t) of occurrence of the longest drought are taken into consideration. Application of the method is performed using the records of nine meteorological stations in Bačka, Yugoslavia and a good agreement is found between the theoretical and empirical distribution functions for all analyzed components of the process. On the basis of the performed computations, a set of maps showing the contours of extreme dry weather intervals, having return periods from 2, 5... up to 100 years, related to the growing season (1 April -30 September), for the region of Bačka in Yugoslavia is obtained. If the period of exploitation of an irrigation system is 60 years, then it could be expected to appear as 20 dry weather intervals having 3 year return periods. The duration of dry weather intervals is given on the set of maps. The obtained results give a prognosis of an average state of droughts during long time intervals (60, 100, 200... years). © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.