Comments on “Plotting Positions in Extreme Value Analysis”

Abstract This comment addresses the role of sampling error in extreme value analysis. A note published in this journal claimed that Weibull’s 1939 estimator for sample probability has a unique status that invalidates all other estimators and renders invalid all of the developments of unbiased distribution-dependent estimators made since 1939. The note concluded that the use of distribution-dependent estimators should be abandoned and that many estimates of the weather-related risks should be reevaluated and the related building codes and other related regulations updated. This comment uses rigorous statistical proofs to make the diametrically opposite case: namely, that development of distribution-dependent estimators has resulted in an improvement in accuracy over the past half century and that no changes are required to the basis of weather-related building codes and regulations. These rigorous proofs are supplemented by sampling experiments that demonstrate their validity. This comment provides an intr...

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