The above method is sufficient for finding the overall depth of rainfall during a storm. However, it is often useful from an engineering perspective to predict the intensity of rainfall during the storm, to allow structures such as drains and sewers to be designed with sufficient capacity for stormwater.
In general, the intensity of a storm is highest at the mid-duration point (known as the peak), and lowest at the start and end of the storm. Therefore, peaked profiles are applied to the storm data to provide a more realistic description of the rainfall intensity during the storm.