Hydroclimatically-defined mixed distributions in partial duration flood series.

A detailed hydroclimatic analysis is used to categorize floods on the basis of the synoptic weather patterns which produced them. This procedure represents the first attempt to classify events in a partial duration flood series according to the specific climatic flood generating mechanism responsible for each event. The technique identifies mixed distributions by using physically based information that is independent of the runoff series, rather than by defining subpopulations on the basis of the shape of the parent distribution itself. Studies Gila Basin hydrographs for a summer convectional shower, winter storm and tropical storm/cutoff low.