Abstract
Abstract A NOAA P-3 instrumented aircraft observed an intense, fast-moving narrow cold frontal rainband (NCFR) as it approached the California coast on 19 February 2001 during the Pacific Coastal Jets Experiment. Airborne Doppler radar data obtained while the frontal system was well offshore indicated that a narrow ribbon of very high radar reflectivity convective cores characterized the rainband at low levels with echo tops to ∼4–5 km, and pseudo-dual-Doppler analyses showed the low-level convergence of the prefrontal air. The NCFR consisted of gaps of weaker reflectivity and cores of stronger reflectivity along its length, perhaps as a result of hydrodynamic instability along its advancing leading edge. In contrast to some earlier studies of cold frontal rainbands, density-current theory described well the motion of the overall front. The character of the updraft structure along the NCFR varied systematically along the length of the precipitation cores and in the gap regions. The vertical shear of the c...
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