010923 Radar and Sounding Operation Status

The radar operated continuously without problems.  Convective 
activity increased significantly compared to the previous day and 
resulted in an extended period (> 17 hours) of precipitation in the 
vicinity of the ship.  Starting near 4-5Z, a number of cells 
developed east of the radar site.  Over the next several hours, this 
cell region congealed into a large mass and continued to grow through 
advection of echos moving from SW-NE along the western margin of the 
feature.  The highest echo tops sampled to date occurred during this 
period with 15 dBZ heights extending near 18 km and 30 dBZ 
occasionally extending upward of 12 km or more.  Animation of PPI's 
showed a definite cyclonic flow pattern in the echo structure, 
consistent with the large blow up of cold cloud tops in the GOES IR 
data.  The ship experienced periods of heavy rain (rain rates > 80 
mm/hr) and occasional nearby lightning strikes through 18Z (visual 
flash rates 1-2/minute).  After 20Z, the echos in the vicinity of the 
ship became more homogenous and several hours of EVAD scans were 
collected while light rain continued to fall at the ship.  Cross 
sections indicated that the bright band was "ragged" with decaying 
convective cells embedded with more stratiform precipitation.

It was a tough day for launching balloons.  The 00Z sounding did not 
return winds.  The 08, 12, and 16Z soundings appeared to have regions 
of spurious lapse rates, most likely due to a sensor bias from ascent 
through alternating cloudy and non-cloudy regions.  The 20Z sounding 
was launched during moderate rain showers and only attained a height 
of about 600 mb.