How much rain does each Syrian sub-district get, and is it declining?

A 45-season series of rainfall (September–August) for all 272 sub-districts, with mean, median and variability, the trend in mm per decade and its statistical significance, and drought seasons by the standardised precipitation index — plus 5 km grids of mean, variability and trend.

In short

Syria averages 288 mm a year; the driest years were 2024/25, 2007/08 and 2020/21.

11 sub-districts show a statistically significant decline, 5 an increase.

The driest of 45 seasons was 2024/25 (161 mm); the latest season, 2025/26, reached 367 mm.

Rainfall in Syria over 45 seasons (1981/82–2025/26): seasonal rainfall, trend and drought seasons per sub-district — Reduced-resolution preview with a watermark; the full-resolution map is in the package.

Who it is for

Postgraduate students in geography, agriculture and hydrology, food-security organisations, water projects and climate-change researchers.

Method: what we add to the raw data

Rainfall for every rainy season (September–August) from 1981/82 to 2025/26 was assembled on 0.05° cells (about 5 km), so one winter is never split across two years.
Each sub-district got an annual series from the mean of its cells, or from the cell it falls in if smaller than a cell.
The trend uses Sen's slope, which resists outlier years, with significance from the Mann-Kendall test.
The standardised precipitation index (SPI) of every season was computed from a gamma distribution fitted to each series; drought at −1 or below, severe at −1.5.
A long table: 45 seasons × every sub-district with rainfall and SPI, ready for charts and analysis.

Product details

What you get	1 spatial layer in GeoPackage, 4 GeoTIFF rasters, 3 CSV tables, lyrx and qml symbology for ArcGIS Pro and QGIS, a PNG map at 220 dpi, and an Arabic and English guide
Formats	GPKG, GeoTIFF, CSV, lyrx, qml, PNG
Coordinate system	WGS 84 (EPSG:4326)
Licence	Commercial use allowed for you and the organisation you buy for; no resale or redistribution
Delivery	A private download link valid for 24 hours, within 6 hours of payment confirmation
Package size	ZIP 1.4 MB
Personal data	The product contains no personal data

Spatial layers

subdistricts_rainfall — polygons, 272: Sub-districts with rainfall, trend and drought statistics

Raster files (GeoTIFF)

D086_mean_annual_mm.tif — 146 × 110, 0.05° (~5 km): Mean seasonal rainfall
D086_cv_percent.tif — 146 × 110, 0.05°: Coefficient of variation
D086_trend_mm_per_decade.tif — 146 × 110, 0.05°: Rainfall trend
D086_trend_pvalue.tif — 146 × 110, 0.05°: Trend significance (p-value)

Tables

D086_subdistricts_summary.csv — 272 rows: Summary per sub-district
D086_annual_rainfall_spi_by_subdistrict.csv — 12,240 rows: Rainfall and SPI per season and year and sub-district
D086_national_annual_rainfall.csv — 45 rows: National mean per season

Limitations

5 km cells smooth sharp contrasts in the coastal mountains and Mount Hermon.
The estimate blends satellite data with gauges and tends to overestimate slightly in hyper-arid areas.
A season runs from September to August and is named by both years (e.g. 2025/26).

FAQ

How long does delivery take?: Up to 6 hours after payment is confirmed.
How long does the download link last?: 24 hours, and it is renewed free on request.
Can I get a refund?: Digital products are not refundable once downloaded — unless the file is defective or does not match the description, in which case it is replaced or fully refunded.
What does the licence allow?: Commercial use is allowed for you and the organisation you buy for; resale or redistribution is not.

Rainfall in Syria over 45 seasons (1981/82–2025/26): seasonal rainfall, trend and drought seasons per sub-district