March 4, 2003: Cold Front w/ weak convective cells Author: Pam Heinselman, CIMMS/OU Contributors: Terry Schuur and Kevin Scharfenberg, CIMMS/OU Last Updated: 1 April 2003

Forecast/Weather:

On 4 March 2003, a very strong cold front approached Norman from the NW with a 50F temperature differential over a distance of about 150 km. A fine line was visible on radar and there were a few weak convective cells going up along the front.

Radar Operations:

Start time: 22:18 3/04/03 UTC (16:18 3/04/03 local time)
Stop time: 03:10 3/05/03 UTC (21:10 3/04/03 local time)

Radar/Software Status:

Hydrometeor Classification Algorithm: Warm season.
Radar: Good.

Operational Delivery:

Data delivered to the NWS, but not a major precipitation event. Only a few weak cells developed along the front.

Snapshots:

Figure 1: Reflectivity at 22:56:19 UTC 4 March 2003 shows cold front as a fine line of reflectivity with weak convective cells. Ground clutter creates high reflectivity values around KOUN.

Figure 2: Hydrometeor Classification at 22:56:19 UTC 4 March 2003. Note that the ground clutter around the radar is identified as hail (red) by the HCA owing to the collocation of high reflectivity and low Z_DR values (not shown).