Disaggregative invariance refers to stochastic independence between th
e total precipitation amount and its temporal disaggregation. This pro
perty is investigated herein for areal average and point precipitation
amounts accumulated over a 24-h period and disaggregated into four 6-
h subperiods. Statistical analyses of precipitation records from 1948
to 1993 offer convincing empirical evidence against the disaggregative
invariance and in favor of the conditional disaggregative invariance,
which arises when the total amount and its temporal disaggregation ar
e conditioned on the timing of precipitation within the diurnal cycle.
The property of conditional disaggregative invariance allows the mode
ler or the forecaster to decompose the problem of quantitative precipi
tation forecasting into three tasks: (i) forecasting the precipitation
timing; (ii) forecasting the total amount, conditional on timing; and
(iii) forecasting the temporal disaggregation, conditional on timing.
Tasks (ii) and (iii) can be performed independently of one another, a
nd this offers a formidable advantage for applications.