Pii: S0022-1694(99)00046-3

It is well-known that the interrelationship between atmosphere and topography in a mountainous country like Austria produces more or less complicated patterns of climate variables. In particular, the spatial variability of precipitation data has often been the topic of research. For this study, the daily data from more than 400 precipitation stations in Austria recorded over a period of 20 years was used. The specific methodology developed in geostatistics which has become an important tool in climatology in the past 10 years, was used in the analysis. One of the most powerful instruments used to measure the temporal and spatial behavior of the variable explored, is the variogram. From the database of each station, we first calculated the most essential properties of the variogram in its general form, namely sill, range and nugget effect. Then we demonstrated how these variables may reveal interesting insights into the spatial structure of the temporal situation of precipitation in Austria. This method has yielded, for example, characteristic clusters of climatological features. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.