ABSTRACT:Inter‐station analysis was employed to evaluate the adequacy of the precipitation network in topographically complex West Virginia. A 25‐year period was determined as the minimum lingth of record needed for relatively stable and fairly accurate estimates of long‐term (50‐year) precipitation and in frequency analysis. Data from the 83 National Weather Service stations with 25‐year records were adjusted for consistency and evaluated separately by zones east (31 stations) and west (52 stations) of the Appalachian divide. Correlation coefficients (r) and average standard errors of estimate were computed for all station pairs within 50 miles distance and 1000 feet elevation difference of each other. The third polynomial equation of inter‐station distance eliminated using elevation and land slope as the criteria in network design in this mountainous terrain. A network with (r) = 0.9 estimates annual precipitation with accuracy as great as 5 percent, but requires about 250 additional gages (i.e., about 200 percent of the prese