A REMOTE-SENSING VIEW OF A FREEZING-RAIN STORM

A destructive freezing-rain storm on 15 February 1990 was observed int ensively with advanced ground-based remote sensors and conventional in struments by the Lake Ontario Winter Storms (LOWS) project in upstate New York. A deep layer of warm, moist, southwesterly flow overran a sh allower layer of subfreezing, easterly flow ahead of a surface warm fr ont. Precipitation at the surface changed from snowfall to ice pellets , to freezing rain, and, finally, to ordinary rain as an elevated laye r of above-freezing air moved into the region and eventually extended to the ground. Measurements from a scanning Doppler radar, wind profil ers, a microwave radiometer, and mobile rawinsondes provided detailed information on the storm's kinematic and thermodynamic structure and e volution, and allowed its basic microphysical structure to be inferred . The remote sensors detected signatures of the melting aloft that may be useful for improving detection and forecasts of freezing-rain haza rds.