Evolution of boundary layer wind and moisture fields along a front during IHOP

Overdetermined, dual-Doppler wind syntheses created from mobile-radar data obtained on 3 June 2002 are used to examine the evolution of boundary layer vertical vorticity and vertical motion along a front in the Oklahoma panhandle. Of particular interest is the cellular nature of upward and downward motion on both sides of the front, and only modest increases in vertical motions and convergence near the front itself. Maximum vertical velocites of around 2 to 3 m/s are observed above 500 m. Positive vorticity maxima also appear along the front, with magnitudes on the order of 0.01 /s, however the relationship between vorticity and upward motions is unclear. Finally, SPOL refractivity index data are used to approximate the boundary layer moisture distribution and how it is related to vorticity and vertical motion fields, and the implications of this relationship to the inhibition of convection on 3 June.