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<p>We developed an advanced-design programmable rainfall simulator (RS) to simulate a moving storm rainfall condition. The RS consists of an automated nozzle control system coupled with a pressure regulator mechanism for an operating range of 50 to 180 kPa at a drop height of 2000 mm above the soil flume surface. Additionally, a programmable mobile application was developed to regulate all RS valves. Near natural rainfall conditions were simulated at varying spatial and temporal resolutions in a controlled environment. A soil flume of 2500 mm <span class="inline-formula">×</span> 1400 mm <span class="inline-formula">×</span> 500 mm was fabricated to conduct different hydrological experiments. The flume was designed to record overland, subsurface, and baseflows simultaneously. This study focused on a detailed analysis of moving storms and their impact on hydrograph characteristics. Experimental results showed a considerable difference in terms of time to peak (<span class="inline-formula"><i>t</i>_p</span>), peak discharge (<span class="inline-formula"><i>Q</i>_p</span>), and hydrograph recession for two different storm movement directions (upstream and downstream). Two multiple regression models indicate a statistically significant relationship between the dependent variable (<span class="inline-formula"><i>t</i>_p</span> or <span class="inline-formula"><i>Q</i>_p</span>) and the independent variables (i.e. storm movement direction, storm velocity, and bed slope gradient) at a 5 % level of significance. Further, the impact of these moving storm phenomena reduces with the increase in the storm movement velocity.</p>