Regional distribution:

(i) Regions and heavy precipitation: The regions which receive over 200 cm of annual rainfall are included in this category. These include equatorial coastal areas of tropical zone and west coastal regions of temperature zone.

(ii) Regions of moderate precipitation: The regions which receive 100 to 200 cm rainfall are included in this category. These regions are eastern coastal regions of sub-tropical zone and coastal regions of the warm temperate zone.

(iii) Regions of less precipitation: These regions receive 50 to 100 cm rainfall. These regions are interior parts of the tropical zone and eastern parts of temperate zone.

(iv) Regions of scanty precipitation: These areas are lying in the rain shadow areas. These are interior parts of continents, western margins of continents along tropics and high latitudes. These regions receive less than 50 cm rainfall.

Seasonal distribution: The seasonal variations of precipitation are also found in the world. The facts related to this are as under.

1. The equatorial regions and the western parts of temperate land receive precipitation throughout the year. The former receive convectional rainfall and later get cyclonic and orographic type through westerlies.

2. About 2% of the land areas of the world receive precipitation only in winter. These are the Mediterranean regions and Coromandel coast of India.

3. The remaining parts of the world receive precipitation only in summer. It is clear that most parts of the world experience seasonal variation of precipitation.