The results indicate a statistically significant increase in extreme rainfall at the expense of light, moderate, and heavy rainfall over time. The only negative relationship is found in dry days. The most statistically significant trends exist in the 99th percentile, maximum, and R100 parameters with p-values of , , and , respectively | Environmental Advances 5 2021 100073 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Advances journal homepage journal environmental-advances Changes in precipitation patterns in Houston Texas Madeline D. Statkewicz Robert Talbot 1 Bernhard Rappenglueck University of Houston Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science Houston TX United States A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords There has been an alarming increase in the frequency of major flooding events along the Gulf Coast over the last Precipitation trends three decades primarily due to events of unprecedented or extreme rainfall. Using data from 63 rain gauges Climate change maintained by the Harris County Flood Control District s Flood Warning System HCFCD FWS this study ex Urbanization amines the changes in daily precipitation amounts in the highly urbanized city of Houston Texas USA. The Flooding Houston potential shift in annual precipitation patterns over a period of three decades 1989-2018 was examined by investigating the numbers of dry and wet days as well as annual precipitation totals over the study period. Wet days were then further scrutinized based on daily rainfall amounts . R10 R20 R30 R40 R50 R100 to determine if extreme events are beginning to dominate annual rainfall amounts. Trends were analyzed for sta tistical significance temporally using the Mann-Kendall and Sen s slope methods and for spatial trends using GIS applications. The results indicate a statistically significant increase in extreme rainfall at the expense of light moderate and heavy rainfall over time. The only negative relationship is found in dry days. The most statistically significant trends exist in the 99th percentile maximum and R100 parameters with p-values of and respectively. There has been rapid growth and intensive development in the Houston area in recent decades that continues to this day and land cover change has been significant as of Harris County
