Abstract: In this paper, the data of ground meteorological observation and sounding data have been explored,contributing to the local empirical formula about atmospheric precipitable water in Guizhou province.By comparing the error about itself and among other empirical formulas,results have revealed that the error between the local empirical formula and the radiosonde method in calculating precipitable water is smaller than other empirical formula.The mean absolute error is 4.62 mm in Guiyang station,and 3.15mm in Weining station.By calculating the relative errors between the local empirical formula and the radiosonde method,weve found that the relative errors are smaller (1%6%) from May to October,while it is bigger from preceding November to next February.In Guizhou province,an increasing trend of precipitable water has been found from 1989 to 1998,while a falling trend since 1998.The monthly of precipitable water is unimodal,summer (JuneAugust) accounted for 39 % of the year.Fluenced by topography and the water sources of Guizhou province,the low-value zone of the atmospheric precipitable water concentrates in west and the central part ,and the high-value zone focus on east and southern edge of Guizhou.