Low-level (300 m) aircraft observations, taken within an intense extra
tropical storm during Intensive Observation Period 2 of the Experiment
on Rapidly intensifying Cyclones over the Atlantic, are used to docum
ent the near-surface frontal structure in the interior of the storm al
1800 UTC 14 December 1988, when the storm was at its maximum depth (9
59 mb). The flight data revealed that a well-defined occluded front sp
iraled into the low, making one-and-one-half turns about the center. T
he front followed the inner boundary of a spiral cloud and moisture ba
nd seen in satellite visible, infrared, and water vapor imagery. The r
esults provide support for the idea that sharp occluded, or occluded-l
ike, fronts can wrap around the core of deep ocean storms and that sat
ellite imagery can be helpful in locating such fronts.