Abstract
Abstract The purpose of the Intermountain Precipitation Experiment (IPEX) is to improve understanding of precipitating systems in the Intermountain West. Instrumentation deployed during the field phase of IPEX sampled a strong cold front and associated convection that moved through northern Utah on 14–15 February 2000. The surface cold front was characterized by a sharp temperature drop (8°C in 8 min), strong pressure rise (3 hPa in 30 min), and gusts to 40 m s−1. The temperature drop at high-elevation surface stations (2500–3000 m MSL) preceded the temperature drop at low-elevation surface stations (1290–2000 m MSL) by as much as an hour, implying a forward- or downshear-tilting frontal structure. Consistent with the cooling aloft, a hydrostatic pressure rise and wind shift preceded the temperature drop at the surface. Radar captured the rapid evolution of the wind shift line into a gravity current. A forward-sloping cloud with mammatus and a 20-hPa-deep superadiabatic layer underneath were observed by r...
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