Kriging and intraregional rainfall variability in England

Using a tool of regionalized variable theory, the semi‐variogram, to remove large‐scale trends, the intraregional spatial variability during 1980 of annual, seasonal, monthly, and extreme‐event rainfall is investigated for two contrasting rainfall regimes within the UK. These are hydrological areas within East Anglia and south‐west England. Altitude is shown to be the dominant factor influencing rainfall variability on these temporal scales in South‐west England for space scales of 2–60 km. In East Anglia altitude is again the dominant factor, but in a much more subtle way, for spatial variability on time‐scales of a month or more. This more subtle influence does, however, allow information on storm structure to be obtained for individual rain events, as is illustrated by a case study.