Abstract An electric field sounding through the transition zone precipitation minimum that trailed an Oklahoma squall line on 18 June 1987 provides information about the electrical structure within a midlatitude trailing stratiform cloud. A single-Doppler radar analysis concurrent with the flight depicts a kinematic structure dominated by two mesoscale flow regimes previously identified in squall-line systems: a strong midlevel, front-to-rear flow coinciding with the stratiform cloud layer and a descending rear inflow that sloped from 6.5 km AGL at the stratiform cloud's trailing edge to 1.5 km AGL at the convective line. Electric field magnitudes as high as 113 kV m−1 were observed by the electric field sounding, which reveals an electric field structure comparable in magnitude and complexity to structures reported for convective cells of thunderstorms. The charge regions inferred with an approximation to Gauss' law have charge density magnitudes of 0.2–4.1 nC m−3 and vertical thicknesses of 130–1160 m; ...