## 3 Results
### Examination of the Simulations with Gpm-Co Dpr
The observed CFAD (Figure 8i) shows the maximum frequencies of >8% in the 20-24 dBZ bins at the height of 6-8 km, with a sharp transition to very low frequencies at those levels with increasing reflectivity. The lack of significant occurrence of high reflectivities at high levels highlights, one more time, how the presence of heavy ice particles was negligible. In the lower levels of 1-3 km, maximum frequencies of \(\sim\)5% were located in the 30-36 dBZ range, decreasing more smoothly (sharply) to lower (higher) reflectivities. At first glance, it is clear that the simulations were not able to simultaneously reproduce both frequency maxima observed in the higher and lower levels. However, they reasonably reproduced some of the features described above. They all showed a narrowing of the frequency distribution with height toward lower reflectivities, but with important differences. The Thompson and Morrison experiments overestimated both the vertical extent and the occurrence of high reflectivity values in the upper levels, especially in the case of Thompson (probably the result of excessive snow production, as mentioned earlier). On the other hand, WSM6 and WDM6 experiments tended to better describe the reflectivity ranges (18-26 dBZ) but underestimated the frequencies between 6 and 10 km (particularly in those GFS-based). At the same time, most simulations could reproduce to some extent the widening of the frequency distribution toward higher reflectivities around the height of 4 km, a feature that was particularly well characterized by the WDM6 experiments. In general, however, the ECMWF-based experiments showed more agreement with the observations in the middle levels (4-6 km) for reflectivities between 18 and 30 dBZ, which consistently exhibited at least one data point \(>\)5% compared to none in the GFS-based simulations with the only exception of Thompson. Nevertheless, the former showed relatively wider frequency distributions at those levels compared to the DPR and to the GFS-based experiments, which could be partially attributed to the presence of snow and graupel, thus supporting the results for the integrated frozen hydrometeor content discussed in Figure 3b. Moreover, the ECMWF-based simulations reproduced more homogeneously the narrowing of the frequency distribution from middle to upper levels, with a more consistent slope, whereas the other simulations altogether displayed more variability in the reproduction of this feature. On the other hand, the GFS-based experiments showed better representation of the distribution in the lower levels (i.e., below 4 km), especially in the 30-38 dBZ range. Taken together, these results highlight the variability among the microphysical schemes tested here and the specificity inherent to each of them, while underlining the role of the IBCs in producing more realistic medicane microphysical features. The integrated rainwater content of the simulations and as retrieved from the GPM-CO DPR overpass is shown in Figure 9. The observations (Figure 9i) revealed an area with amounts as high as \(\sim\)24 mm in the main rainband west of the coasts of Lefkada and Kefalonia islands, a well-defined eyewall with some spots of high rainwater content, and a wide region with weak (<1 mm) values spreading north/northwest of the main rainband. The ECMWF-based simulations outperformed their GFS counterparts in terms of position  
Figure 8: CFADs (in %) of Ku-band radar corrected reflectivity (dBZ) at 10:30 p.m. UTC 17 September 2020 for all simulations (**a**–**h**) and as observed by the GPM-CO DPR overpass at 10:31 p.m. UTC (i) binned every 2 dBZ and every 250 m in height. The vertical axes are in km. and organization of these features, presenting a more evident eye-like shape and spiraling bands resembling more those present in the DPR observations. However, they all incurred a westward displacement bias in the medicane's position compared to the satellite retrieval.