A dual-Doppler analysis of a narrow cold frontal rainband in central Pennsylvania

Two Doppler On Wheels (DOW) radars were deployed near the campus of Pennsylvania State University to observe the passage of a narrow cold frontal rainband on 2 November 2004. The data collection and analysis were undertaken by students in a special radar meteorology class held in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Area Mobile Radar Experiment (PAMREX). Wind syntheses were produced from the dual-Doppler observations at 3-minute intervals during a period spanning approximately 1 hour. The paper discusses the fine-scale reflectivity, vertical velocity, and vertical vorticity fields associated with the rainband. Comparisons of the high-resolution DOW data and WSR-88D data also are made, as are comparisons of the observed rainband structure to previous conceptual models of frontal rainbands.