Multi-site downscaling of heavy daily precipitation occurrence and amounts

When tested against independent data (1979-1993), multi-site ANN models correctly simulated precipitation occurrence 80% of the time. The ANNs tended to over-estimate inter-site correlations for amounts due to their fully deterministic forcing, but performance was marginally better than SDSM for most seasonal-series of heavy precipitation indices. Conversely, SDSM yielded better inter-site correlation and representation of daily precipitation quantiles than the ANNs. All models had greatest skill for indices reflecting persistence of large-scale winter precipitation (such as maximum 5-day totals) or dry-spell duration in summer. Overall, predictability of daily precipitation was greater in NWE than SEE.