Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Apparent Heavy Tails of Sub‐Daily Precipitation Explained by the Coexistence of Lighter‐Tailed Processes
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Apparent Heavy Tails of Sub‐Daily Precipitation Explained by the Coexistence of Lighter‐Tailed Processes
Do you wish to request the book?
Apparent Heavy Tails of Sub‐Daily Precipitation Explained by the Coexistence of Lighter‐Tailed Processes
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
Apparent Heavy Tails of Sub‐Daily Precipitation Explained by the Coexistence of Lighter‐Tailed Processes
2026
Overview
Extreme value theory is routinely applied to estimate rainfall frequency for several accumulation periods. Typically, it is found that sub‐daily precipitation has power‐type tails, meaning that the probability of observing increasingly large magnitudes decreases as a power law. Physical arguments, however, suggest it should have lighter, stretched exponential, tails. Here, we reconcile these perspectives showing that part of the contradiction is caused by precipitation process heterogeneity. We examine hundreds of sub‐daily precipitation records in the Greater Alpine Area, for which a classification of storms into homogeneous types is available. We find that an apparent heavy‐tail behavior is reported at scales of 1–6 hr, and is explained by the coexistence of stratiform and convective processes, both characterized by stretched exponential tails. Our results challenge the assumptions which justify the use of extreme value theory for sub‐daily precipitation, with important implications for how design values are determined.
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Subject
