The present study examined extreme rainfall events (EREs) in central India during the summer monsoon season, focusing on their spatial characteristics.A station-based gridded and a station-satellite-blended dataset was used to examine long-term and recent variations in precipitation characteristics for 50 years (1951-2000) and 38 years (1981-2018), respectively. A precipitation system approach (PSA) was applied to identify the ERE precipitation systems and categorized spatial sizes of ERE systems into three categories: sporadic, intermediate, and massive ERE precipitation systems. Conventionally, the ERE frequency is equal to the total number of ERE grids, whereas PSA counts ERE systems. The sporadic precipitation grid contributes 42% of all the ERE grids, and sporadic EREs frequency increases in the long-term. The long-term trend of intermediate and massive EREs does not increase and quite sharply increases, respectively, and these EREs are also intensifying. Recent 38 years have shown a reverse in the trends of ERE characteristics, the frequency and intensity of intermediate and massive EREs have decreased, whereas the massive ERE systems are broadening.

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