METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ATR72 AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTNEAR ROSELAWN, INDIANA, ON 31 OCTOBER 1994

An ATR72 commuter aircraft crashed near Roselawn, Indiana, on 31 Octob er 1994 killing all 68 people on board. Available weather data, includ ing those from a Next Generation Radar, a radar wind profiler, a Geost ationary Operational Environmental Satellite, and pilot reports of ici ng have been examined in combination with analysis fields from the Rap id Update Cycle model and forecast fields from the Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research MM5 numerical mode l. Synthesis of this information provides a relatively complete and co nsistent picture of the ambient meteorological conditions in the regio n of the ATR72 holding pattern at similar to 3.1 km above mean sea lev el. Of particular interest is the evidence that these conditions favor ed the development of supercooled drizzle drops within a strong fronta l zone, as indicated by cloud-top temperatures of -10 degrees to -15 d egrees C, weak radar reflectivity, and strong, vertical wind shear wit hin the cloud and warm front.