Dual-Doppler Radar Analysis of a Midlatitude Squall Line with a Trailing Region of Stratiform Rain

Abstract
The mesoscale structure of a squall-line system that passed over Oklahoma on 22 May 1976 is investigated by dual-Doppler radar analysis. The mature storm consisted of a leading line of deep convection, which exhibited organized multicellular structure, trailed by an extensive region of stratiform precipitation marked by a radar bright band at the melting level. These contrasting radar echo regimes were separated by a narrow band of weak reflectivity at lower levels, which has been termed the “transition zone.” While conventional and single-Doppler radar analyses documented the persistence of this precipitation structure and revealed the corresponding kinematic structure in one part of the mature storm, the dual-Doppler analysis demonstrates the pervasiveness of these features over much of the squall line's length. The structure of a midtropospheric maximum of rearward, system-relative flow crossing the system is particularly well described by the dual-Doppler data. This mesoscale current originat... Abstract The mesoscale structure of a squall-line system that passed over Oklahoma on 22 May 1976 is investigated by dual-Doppler radar analysis. The mature storm consisted of a leading line of deep convection, which exhibited organized multicellular structure, trailed by an extensive region of stratiform precipitation marked by a radar bright band at the melting level. These contrasting radar echo regimes were separated by a narrow band of weak reflectivity at lower levels, which has been termed the “transition zone.” While conventional and single-Doppler radar analyses documented the persistence of this precipitation structure and revealed the corresponding kinematic structure in one part of the mature storm, the dual-Doppler analysis demonstrates the pervasiveness of these features over much of the squall line's length. The structure of a midtropospheric maximum of rearward, system-relative flow crossing the system is particularly well described by the dual-Doppler data. This mesoscale current originat...

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