The objective of this study was the evaluation of the rainfall variability in Paraíba state. Daily rainfall observed from a network of 58 rain gauges in Paraíba State and mean daily temperature observed at Campina Grande weather station were analyzed using entropy theory. The results showed that rainfall entropy is high in localities and periods with high rainfall values and is low in localities and periods with low rainfall values. Maximum values of rainfall entropy occurred in the rainy period and minimum values occurred in the dry period. However, the entropy of the temperature time serie was constant, with maximum value of 8.53 bits. This study shows that for any time series the entropy decreases exponentially with increase of standard deviation.
Shannon's entropy; daily rainfall; air temperature
