Fraction of the mean annual total precipitation from the top 10 wettest days in a year for the Midwest region.

Fraction of the mean annual total precipitation from the top 10 wettest days in a year during 1971-2000 for the Midwest region. Only stations with 80 years of precipitation data between 1895 and 2002 are shown (Pryor et al. 2009b). The blue plus signs indicate stations where the top 10 wettest days make up a smaller amount of the annual precipitation while the black squares are stations where a larger fraction comes from the top 10 days. Based on data from the NWS Cooperative Observer Network. This indicates that the contribution of the top 10 days to annual precipitation increases from east to west. Figure courtesy of Indiana University Press.