Rectangular pulses point process models for rainfall: analysis of empirical data

A detailed analysis of some rainfall data from Denver, Colorado, is carried out at different levels of aggregation which range from 1 to 24 hours. Two classes of models are then fitted to the data. In the first class of models, storm events arise in a Poisson process, each such event being associated with a period of rainfall of random duration and constant but random intensity. Total rainfall intensity is formed by adding the contributions from all storm events. In the second class of models, storms arise in a Poisson process, each storm giving rise to a cluster of rain cells and each cell having a random duration and constant but random intensity. -from Authors