The Rainfall Intensity‐Duration Control of Debris Flows After Wildfire

Increased wildfire activity in the western United States has exposed regional gaps our understanding of postfire debris-flow generation. To address this problem, we characterized flows an unstudied area to test rainfall intensity-duration control hazard. Our measurements and field observations from northern Sierra Nevada (California, USA) show that debris resulted a short burst during low-accumulation storm. In contrast, much higher accumulation storm (∼10 times more rainfall) with lower short-duration rates only produced low-hazard flooding. We conclude total is not ideal metric for identifying conditions initiate runoff-generated first year after wildfire. Rather, focus on (<1 hr), high-intensity can occur localized thunderstorms, or bands intense prolonged rainstorms, beneficial purposes hazard assessment warning.