A balloon sounding of electric field in the trailing stratiform cloud of a bow echo mesoscale convective system reveals only two substantial in-cloud positive charge regions. These charge regions are located at altitudes of 5.1--5.6 km and 6.4--6.8 km, above the level of 0¿C at 4.2 km. The two positive charge regions are the likely sources of six positive cloud-to-ground flashes with large peak currents (>32 kA) that occurred within 60 km of the balloon during its flight. The amount of charge transferred by three of these positive flashes that made Q bursts is calculated in the range of 97--196 C. Flashes of this sort are known to produce sprites and elves in the mesosphere. The positive charge regions in this stratiform cloud are substantially lower than the 10-km altitude commonly assumed for the positive charge in many sprite modeling studies. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union