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Instrumental Transitions and their Impact on Precipitation Records in the Eastern US
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Instrumental Transitions and their Impact on Precipitation Records in the Eastern US

Mobin Rahimi Golkhandan, Bernice Rosenzweig, Art DeGaetano, Patrick L. Gurian and Franco Montalto
Journal of hydrometeorology, Forthcoming
11 Sep 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-25-0219.1

Abstract

Precipitation observations are critical in studying the impacts of climate change, but the implications of changes in measurement devices on data quality have not been systematically investigated. This study compares hourly precipitation observations from NOAA’s Local Climatological Dataset (LCD) to contemporaneous daily observations included in its Cooperative Observer Program (COOP). Over the years, LCD data was collected using a variety of different measurement devices, while the COOP data referenced in this study utilized just one: the 8-inch non-recording standard rain gauge (SRG). The study focuses on precipitation between 1975 and 2024 in the Northeast (NE) and Southeast (SE) regions of the United States. Short-term and long-term delta change factors were computed and evidence for temporal changepoints in the datasets was gathered. Compared to the daily COOP data collected in the same region, the hourly LCD observations in both the NE and SE display temporal variability likely associated with changes in instrumentation with the largest DCF reaching 12.56% for LCD and −2.76% for COOP stations. Variability in the LCD data is greater in the coastal subregion compared to the relatively consistent changes in the COOP data, especially over the earlier portion of the observation period, before most LCD stations adopted the All-Weather Accumulation Precipitation Gauge (AWPAG). Changepoints detected in both datasets were categorized geographically and were dissimilar in most cases. This study underscores the need for precipitation data homogenization and consideration of the potential ramifications of changes in instrumentation in evaluation of long-term precipitation trends.

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