010920 Radar and Sounding Operation Status

The radar operated continuously without problems.  Early in the day 
(01-05 UTC), several convective features were sampled by the radar 
wich evidently contained significant mixed phase regions as revealed 
by their reflectivity structure (30 dBZ to > 8-10 km) and lightning 
flash rates (3-4/minute).  In contrast to previous days, these 
features also produced an extensive region of > 13 km echo tops. 
Another notable feature were relatively shallow cells (< 10 km in 
height) with elevated reflectivity cores near 3-4 km.  These 
reflectivity cores approached 60 dBZ at times.  These cells produced 
apparent attenuation of echos at farther range.  The remainder of the 
day was marked by scattered echos and small linear bands that formed 
along outflow boundaries.

The 04Z and 16Z soundings did not return data above 400 mb.  The 00Z 
sounding did not return winds.  Several of the sounding showed a 
strong inversion and dry layer above 700 mb.  Westerly winds were 
confined to the mixed layerin all the soundings that returned winds.