Using the method of empirical orthogonal function(EOF) and the data of 23 years at 96 meteorological stations in Shaanxi Province

we calculated the feature vector distribution of precipitation fields and the time-coefficient series.The results showed that the EOF method was capable of revealing the spatial and temporal distributions of precipitation field for Shaanxi Province

with the first three EOFs reflecting the three typical vector distribution fields and explaining 81.10% of total variation. The spatial distribution of precipitation in Shaanxi Province had three typical modes:the whole region

north-south

and eas- t west patterns. In general

the values of the three feature vector distribution fields increased from north to south

with the largest value centered on the southern tip of the province

indicating a wetter south with a larger inter-annual precipitation variation and a drier north with a smaller inter-annual precipitation variation. Analysis of the eigenvectors of the corresponding time factor coefficients showed that the precipitation fields in Shaanxi Province mainly exhibited six types. Compared to the statistical results of 23 years

these results were consistent with the typical precipitation fields.