A relation between maximum observed point and areal rainfall values

Abstract

The envelope of world‐record point‐rainfall values for durations ranging from a few minutes to six months is shown to be closely approximated by the relationship that maximum depth is proportional to the square root of duration. The factor of proportionality is then shown to be a hyperbolic function of area, when the study is extended to include maximum observed depths of rainfall over sizes of area ranging from a point to over 200,000 sq mi.