Accurate analysis of rainfall characteristics is essential for water resources management practices mainly in water scarce
countries. In this study, analysis of historical rainfall time series at four synoptic stations in Burkina Faso was carried out in
order to evaluate the statistical characteristics of rainfall data recorded from 1980 to 2021. In each station, skewness and
kurtosis were applied to test the annual rainfall distribution. Similarly, the standard normal homogeneity test (SNHT) and the
probability of exceedance were computed. The Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope estimator were then used to detect trends
and estimate their magnitude in the time series data. As a result, a negative skewness is observed in Diapaga station indicating
that the rainfall data is skewed to the left. Conversely, the station of Fada N’Gourma, Mahadaga and Pama are showing a
positive skewness. The kurtosis is positive across all station indicating a peaked distribution. A maximum rainfall magnitude
of 1000mm/year in Diapaga and Fada N’Gourma is exceeded with a 25% probability of occurrence. A maximum rainfall
magnitude of 730mm /year and 750 mm/year is exceeded with a 87% probability of occurrence respectively in Mahadaga and
Pama. In overall, an occurrence of rainfall more than 1000mm is low while the occurrence of rainfall around 700mm is high.
Man Kendall test results in Diapaga (2.0754), Mahadaga (0.32614) and Pama (0.69683) exhibit a significant positive trend,
while Fada N'Gourma (-0.50403) shows a non-significant decreasing trend

Rainfall, distribution, eastern region, Burkina Faso, probability of exceedance