Summary
We have examined the day-of-the-week variation of rainfall and maximum temperature using 26 years of record at Melbourne, Australia. The summer and winter half-years were considered separately. Analysis of variance revealed no significant differences between the days. However, in the winter season, precipitation shows a monotonic increase from Sunday to a maximum on Thursday, while maximum temperature shows a monotonic decrease from Monday to a Saturday minimum. Winter weekday precipitation is significantly (at the 5% level) greater than weekend precipitation, the reason for which seems to be atmospheric pollution. The out-of-phase relationship between precipitation and maximum temperature in winter appears to be due to the increased cloud cover associated with rainfall events. Our results suggest that the pollution level has little effect on the maximum temperature.
Zusammenfassung
Die Variation des Niederschlages und des Temperaturmaximums wurden mit der 26jährigen Reihe von Melbourne, nach Winter- und Sommerhalbjahr getrennt, untersucht. Die Varianzanalyse zeigte keine signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen den Tagen. Aber im Winter erhöhte sich der Niederschlag stetig von Samstag zu einem Maximum am Donnerstag, während die Maximaltemperatur von Montag bis Samstag zurückging. Die Niederschlagsmenge im Winter ist bei einem Signifikanzniveau von 95% an Wochenenden größer, was durch die Luftverschmutzung erklärt sein könnte. Der phasenverschobene Zusammenhang zwischen Niederschlag und Maximaltemperatur scheint mit der verstärkten Bewölkung bei Niederschlägen zusammenzuhängen. Die Ergebnisse lassen vermuten, daß das Ausmaß der Luftverschmutzung sich auf die Maximaltemperatur kaum auswirkt.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashworth, J. R.: The Influence of Smoke and Hot Gases from Factory Chimneys on Rainfall. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.55, 341–350 (1929).
Atkinson, B. W.: The Reality of the Urban Effect on Precipitation: A Case-Study Approach. Urban Climates, Tech. Note No. 108, WMO, 344–362 (1970).
Cehak, K.: Note on the Dependence of Precipitation on the Day of the Week in a Medium Industrialized City. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biocl., Ser. B30, 247–251 (1982).
Changnon, S. A., Jr.: Recent Studies of Urban Effects on Precipitation in the United States. Urban Climates, Tech. Note No. 108, WMO, 327–343 (1970).
Changnon, S. A., Jr.: Evidence of Urban and Lake Influences on Precipitation in the Chicago Area. J. Appl. Met.19, 1137–1159 (1980).
Changnon, S. A., Jr.: METROMEX: A review and summary. Met. Monogr.18, 1–15 (1981).
Dettwiller, J.: Incidence possible de l'activité industrielle sur les précipitation á Paris. Urban Climates, Tech. Note No. 108, WMO, 361–362 (1970).
Environmental Protection Authority of Victoria: Air monitoring results 1978. Report No. 91-79 (1979).
Flocas, A. A., Giles, B. D.: A Record Rainfall in Athens — 2 November 1977. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biocl., Ser. A28, 375–386 (1979).
Frederick, R. H.: Preliminary Results of a Study of Precipitation by Day-of-the-Week over Eastern United States. Second National Conference on Weather Modification. Amer. Met. Soc. 209–214 (1970).
Gatz, D. F.: An Investigation of Pollutant Source Strength-Rainfall Relationships at St. Louis. J. Appl. Met.18, 1245–1251 (1979).
Hartley-Russell, D.: Rainfall Statistics. Weather19, 121–123 (1964).
Jauregui, E., Klaus, D.: Stadtklimatische Effekte der raum-zeitlichen Niederschlagsverteilung aufgezeigt am Beispiel von Mexiko-stadt. Erdkunde36, 278–286 (1982).
Kellogg, W. W.: Aerosols and Climate. In: Interactions of Energy and Climate (Bach, W., J. Pankrath, Williams, J., eds.), pp. 281–296. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Reidel Publishing Co. 1980.
Khemani, L. T., Murty, Bh. V. R.: Rainfall Variations in an Urban Industrial Region. J. Appl. Met.12, 187–194 (1973).
Klaus, D., Jauregui, E., Lauer, W.: Stadtbedingte Niederschlagseffekte im Großraum von Mexiko City. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biocl., Ser. B33, 275–288 (1983).
Landsberg, H. E.: Inadvertant Atmospheric Modification Through Urbanization. In: Weather and Climate Modification (Hess, W. N., ed.), pp. 726–763. New York: J. Wiley and Sons 1974.
Landsberg, H. E.: The Urban Climate. International Geophysics Series 28. New York: Academic Press 1981.
Lawrence, E. N.: Urban Climate and Day-of-the-Week. Atmos. Environm.5, 935–948 (1971).
Lawrence, E. N.: Day-of-the-Week Variation in Weather. Weather26, 386–391 (1971).
Nicholson, G.: Wet Thursdays Again. Weather20, 322–323 (1965).
Nicholson, G.: Wet Thursdays. Weather24, 117–119 (1969).
Norgate, T. B.: Rainfall on Thursdays. Weather29, 197 (1974).
Oke, T. R.: City Size and the Urban Heat Island. Atmos. Environm.7, 769–779 (1973).
Robinson, E.: Effect on the Physical Properties of the Atmosphere. In: Air Pollution, 2nd ed. (Stern, A. C., ed), pp. 349–400. New York: Academic Press 1968.
Twomey, S.: Atmospheric Aerosols. Developments in Atmospheric Science 7. Amsterdam: Elsevier 1977.
Yonetani, T.: Increase in Number of Days with Heavy Precipitation in Tokyo Urban Area. J. Appl. Met.21, 1466–1471 (1982).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
With 6 Figures
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Simmonds, I., Kaval, J. Day-of-the week variation of rainfall and maximum temperature in Melbourne, Australia. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biocl., Ser. B 36, 317–330 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02263136
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02263136