Abstract: Based on hourly precipitation data at 6 national automatic weather stations and 66 township regional automatic weather stations from May to September during 2010-2019,the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of short-time heavy rainfall were discussed in detail,combined with influences of altitude and plateau slope topography on short-time heavy rainfall in Linxia area on plateau slope.The frequency presented an upward trend in recent 10 years,and it was related to the location of the ridge line and the northern boundary of the western Pacific subtropical high.The shorttime heavy rainfall mainly occurred from May to September,the concentrated period was from mid-July to mid-August.The high frequency period of heavy rain was from 19:00 to 23:00,belonging to the evening and the night rain type.The extremeness increased in recent 10 years.The average annual frequency of a single station was between 0.2 and 2.6,with an average of 0.8 times. The spatial distribution of short-term heavy rainfall was quite different,which was generally characterized by“higher in the southwest and lower in the northeast,higher in mountainous areas and lower in valley areas”.The precipitation distribution showed a significant relationship with altitude:the average precipitation from May to September increased with the altitude.The frequency distribution of short-term heavy rainfall showed two extremes:the mountainous trumpet terrain area with higher altitude and the valley area with lower altitude,which were the key areas for short-term heavy rainfall in flood season in Linxia area.