We assess a generalized Waymire-Gupta-Rodriguez-Iturbe model for rainfall intensity from GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment rainfall fields. The generalization allows the rain cells' characteristics to be variable and models both their intensive and dissipative stages. In a detailed analysis of the rainfall trace from a cloud cluster over a 5-hour period, we fit the model using nonlinear least squares, and we assess its ability to represent rainfall intensity in space and time. We find that the geometry and kinematics of the actual cloud cluster are more complex than is hypothesized in the model. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990