From radar observations of rain fields at midlatitudes, a new physical model of rain cells is proposed. It strives to describe optimally the rain rate horizontal distribution within rain cells down to 1 mm h-1. The approach is similar to that of the well-known EXCELL model. The mathematical definition of the model lies in the combination of a gaussian function and an exponential one, the cells having an elliptic horizontal cross section. Due to its hybrid structure, the new model has been named HYCELL. From a conceptual point of view, the gaussian component describes the convective-like high rain rate core of the cell, while the exponential component accounts for the surrounding stratiform-like low rain rate spreading down to 1 mm h-1. The modeling of a rain cell with HYCELL then requires the determination of seven parameters. The latter is obtained, cell by cell, by solving a set of five fit-forcing equations completed by two continuity equations. The fit-forcing equations involve radar parameters of integral nature which refer not only to the rain cell geometry (area, ellipticity) but also to the rain rate R distribution inside the cell (mean and root mean square values of R and gradient of R). Their analytical expressions are derived from the model definition, while their values are forced to be those derived from radar measurements. Using this method, thousands of rain cells identified from radar observations in the regions of Bordeaux (southwestern France) and Karlsruhe (southwestern Germany) have been modeled. Though both sites are at midlatitude, the climatic contexts differ: oceanic for Bordeaux and continental for Karlsruhe. Results of rain rate horizontal distribution modeling within cells using HYCELL and EXCELL are compared. It is then suggested that the HYCELL model is a new tool which deserves to be considered by system designers to compute propagation parameters.