Climatology of monthly and annual rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina

This paper examines the temporal and spatial variations of annual and monthly extreme precipitation for ten stations (1890–1980) in the central‐east of Argentina. Extremes of yearly and monthly rainfall are statistically defined. The time series of the annual and monthly rainfall anomalies are analysed. The dry years are concentrated in the beginning of the period of observation (before 1940) and the wet years are distributed throughout the whole period. The probability of having a wet or dry month is the same, and the probability of having two or more months with the same extreme condition is low. Harmonic analysis is applied to the monthly rainfall of the driest and wettest years to describe and analyse their different cycles. The annual cycle, for the driest years, tends to dominate over the whole region. The most important harmonic for the wettest years is the second one, associated with the advection of humidity.