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• An analytical multifractal (MF) approximation for IDF curve estimation is tested. • The MF model is compared to annual maxima and peaks-over-threshold approaches. • The MF IDF estimates are more accurate, especially for short rainfall records. • The MF parameters resemble the local topography and rainfall climatology. • The MF parameter setting is particularly appealing for ungauged locations. The present study uses hourly rainfall measurements from 36 raingauge stations in the northeastern United States with more than 55 years of recordings, to assess the accuracy and robustness of three conceptually different parametric approaches to produce intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves from rainfall records: (a) the well celebrated parametric IDF model based on annual maxima (AM) series, initially introduced by Rossi and Villani (1994) and later extended by Koutsoyiannis et al. (1998), (b) a peaks-over-threshold (PoT) model based on proper fitting of a reparametrized generalized Pareto (GP) distribution to the scaled excesses of the average rainfall intensity over various durations d , and (c) the analytical approximation introduced by Langousis et al. (2009) for estimation of multifractal (MF) rainfall maxima. Since its development, the third approach has never been tested in real world applications, and/or compared to routinely used approaches for IDF curve estimation. The obtained results show that the MF approach may constitute an important tool for hydrological applications, as it produces more accurate and robust IDF estimates than the other two approaches, irrespective of the duration d and return period T of interest, especially in cases where rainfall records exhibit significant length limitations. In addition, the parameters of the MF analytical approximation are found to be descriptive of the local topography and rainfall climatology of the region, providing a physically meaningful modeling setting that is particularly suited for regional frequency analysis and IDF estimation at ungauged locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]