Abstract Breakpoint data derived from the manual digitization of pluviographs from Invercargill, New Zealand, (46°25′S, 168°20′E) is considered. The breakpoints, recording changes of intensity from one steady value to another, are digitized and processed into a steam of data pairs: the rainfall rate, which includes zero, and the duration of that rate. Viewed this way, rainfall appears to be nonrandom and composed of two types of events that can be interpreted, respectively, as rain and showers. Each type has its own lognormal distribution of intensifies and durations, both wet and dry. For rain there is a −0.9 correlation between rate and duration, with rates ranging from 0.1 mm h−1 to 6 mm h−1 and durations from 2 min to 1.5 h.; dry times within a rain event range from 6 min to 4.5 h. For showers there is a −0.44 correlation between the rate and duration, with rates ranging from 0.3 mm h−1 to 16 mm h−1 and durations from 1.5 min to 1 h., dry times within a shower event range from 15 min to 1.2 days. Also...