Spacio-temporal variability and similarity of the rainfall records of 33 meteorological stations localised north of the 30° N latitudinal axis in Morocco

The analysis ofthe rainfall records concerned 33 stations localised north of30° N latitudinal axis in Morocco. The eingenvectors have been computed from the matrix of correlation data. The first 6 to 18 principal components appearto contain meteorological information significantly above noise. The first tree eigenvectors account for 59 % in september to 76 % in february and april ofthe total variance ofthe monthly rainfall. The analysis based on these tree major eingenvectors shows the existence offourregional groups. Group1: stations ofthe north-east of Morocco. Group2: stations ofthe central HighAtlas. Group3: stations ofthe western High Atlas. Group4: Atlantics stations with a difference between stations localised in the north and the south of the 32° N latitude axis.