In July and August 1996, NOAA/ETL's High Resolution Doppler Lidar (HRDL) was deployed in southern Illinois as part of the Lidars in Flat Terrain (LIFT) field campaign. During the daytime, HRDL was primarily operated in vertical staring mode, resulting in a comprehensive data set of vertical velocities throughout the convective boundary layer. The range of the vertical velocity data extends from about 300 m AGL to the top of the boundary layer at a vertical resolution of 30 m. The temporal resolution varies from 1 to 20 s depending on the signal-to-noise ratio of the backscattered lidar signals. We use these data to compute profiles of vertical velocity variance, skewness, and kurtosis under a variety of meteorological conditions that were encountered during LIFT. Preliminary analysis of the data yielded vertical velocity variance profiles with a maximum near the middle of the boundary layer which is consistent with previous observations. Vertical velocity skewness values were found to be generally positive throughout the boundary layer. This is in agreement with the concept that in a well-mixed boundary layer updrafts are stronger and cover a smaller area than the compensating, weaker downdrafts. In addition to vertical velocity statistics, we will present measurements of sensible surface heat flux that are derived from the vertical velocity variance profiles using an empirical flux-variance relationship.