Statistical distribution of rainfall in Uttarakhand, India

Abstract Understanding of rainfall is an important issue for Uttarakhand, India which having varied topography and due to that extreme rainfall causes quick runoff which warns structural and functional safety of large structures and other natural resources. In this study, an attempt has been made to determine the best-fit distribution of the annual series of rainfall data for the period of 1991–2002 of 13 districts of Uttarakhand. A best-fit distribution such as Chi-squared, Chi-squared (2P), exponential, exponential (2P), gamma, gamma (3P), gen. extreme value (GEV), log-Pearson 3, Weibull, Weibull (3P) distributions was applied. Comparisons of best distributions were based on the use of goodness-of-fit tests such as Kolmogorov–Smirnov, Anderson–Darling, and Chi squared. Results showed that the Weibull distribution performed the best with 46% of the total district, while the second best distribution was Chi squared (2P) and log-Pearson. The results of this study would be useful to the water resource engineers, policy makers and planners for the agricultural development and conservation of natural resources of Uttarakhand