Rainfall climatology, variability, and trends in Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to characterize the rainfall climatology in Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, through analyses of means, variabilities related to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and temporal trends, using a 60-year data series (1956-2015). Descriptive statistics of annual, monthly and seasonal rainfall were used to characterize the rainfall climatology. The differences between seasons, and influence of ENSO were evaluated using analysis of variance and the Duncan’s test. Rainfall trends were evaluated by the Mann Kendall test. The local average annual rainfall is 1,683 mm and the average monthly rainfall is 140 mm, varying from 109 (May) to 182 mm (September). The annual rainfall has high interannual (standard deviation of 327 mm), monthly (60-100 mm) and seasonal (124-183 mm) variabilities, which should be considered in non-irrigated agricultural systems using rainfall as the main source of water supply to plants. Although autumn presents lower average rainfall (346 mm) than the other seasons, its average percentages were similar to the total annual rainfall (21-28%), and the rainfalls are well-distributed in the seasons. Differences between ENSO events occurred in the spring; La Niña years showed lower rainfall (385 mm) than El Niño (549 mm) and neutral (481 mm) years. The annual rainfall tended to increase by 6.3 mm per year (p < 0.01), with increases of 2.5 mm in spring and 1.9 mm in winter (p < 0.10) in the period analyzed