53:078 Principles of Hydrology (Spring 2004)
Problem #7
Areal-Average Precipitation for Ralston Creek (June 1972 storm)

Hourly rainfall data for five stations in the North Branch of Ralston Creek are provided for the flood that occurred on 17-18 July 1972. The areas associated with the five Thiessen polygons are (i.e., which you created in class) given below.  Use this information to complete are storm analysis for this event.

NumberStationArea
(sq mi)

1

Ruppert0.641

2

Donovan0.482

3

Hunter0.819

4

Larsen0.638

5

Kessler0.430

  1. Compute the storm total rainfall (in inches) for each of the five stations.
  2. Plot the storm totals (in inches) on the map of the North Branch of Ralston Creek.
  3. Sketch isohyets (lines of equal rainfall depth) for at contour interval of 0.1 inches.
  4. Estimate the areal average rainfall (in inches) for each hour using the arithmetic average method.
  5. Compute the Thiessen Polygon weights (wi).
  6. Compute the areal average rainfall (in inches) for each hour using the Thiessen polygon method.
  7. Plot the the areal average rainfall computed using the arithmetic average method (part d) versus time (Note that this is commonly referred to as the incremental rainfall hyetograph).
  8. Compute the cumulative rainfall (in inches) for each hour for the areal average rainfall computed using the arithmetic average method (part d).
  9. Plot the cumulative rainfall versus time (Note that this is commonly referred to as the cumulative rainfall hyetograph, or rainfall mass curve).
  10. Compute the maximum rainfall intensity (in inches/hr) for durations of 1, 3, and 6 hours, for the areal average rainfall computed using the arithmetic average method (part d).



Last changed on 01/29/04 by aab.