Selection of historic heavy large-scale rainfall events in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Abstract. The Central European floods of July 1997 and August 2002 spotlighted the need for systematic research of the relationships between synoptic-scale conditions and heavy large-scale rainfalls. Creating a set of historic events underlies such research. We defined the criterion for their selection, which is based on daily areal precipitation amounts in predefined sub-regions. To stress the hydrological responses of precipitation, the criterion expresses the temporal distribution of daily areal precipitation in a three-day period. We applied the criterion to clusters of the Czech Republic river basins that were affected by high areal precipitation almost simultaneously during individual events. Finally, we selected events with the ten highest criterion values within each cluster during the warmer half-years from 1951 to 2006. Regarding the spatial extent of heavy rainfalls, we identified a few events during which a substantial part of the Czech Republic was affected. The events include, for instance, the floods of July 1997 and August 2002 that were unique in terms of precipitation totals. The uniqueness of the event in 2002 is that it consisted of two episodes that occurred in rapid succession and demonstrated heavy rainfall that affected almost the same area. Regarding the spatial distribution of precipitation, we identified several groups of events in which heavy rainfall affected similar sub-regions of the Czech Republic. This attribute was most likely related to similar synoptic-scale conditions. In terms of the seasonal variability, the most significant events were concentrated in high summer, which is typical of orographically exposed clusters. Interannual variability of the events was characterized by two main ten-year periods with a rather low frequency of occurrence followed by the years with increased frequency. The analysis of both the hydrological responses and synoptic-dynamic conditions of the events will be the object of further research.