Aerosol indirect radiative forcing of climate change is considered the most uncertain forcing of climate change over the industrial period, despite numerous studies demonstrating such modification of cloud properties and several studies quantifying resulting changes in shortwave radiative fluxes. Detection of this effect is made difficult by the large inherent variability in cloud liquid water path (LWP): the dominant controlling influence of LWP on optical depth and albedo masks any aerosol influences. Here we have used ground-based remote sensing of cloud optical depth (${ au}_c$) by narrowband radiometry and LWP by microwave radiometry to determine the dependence of optical depth on LWP, thereby permitting examination of aerosol influence. The method is limited to complete overcast conditions with liquid-phase single layer clouds, as determined mainly by millimeter wave cloud radar. The results demonstrate substantial (factor of 2) day-to-day variation in cloud drop effective radius at the ARM Southern Great Plains site that is weakly associated with variation in aerosol loading as characterized by light-scattering coefficient at the surface. The substantial scatter suggests the importance of meteorological influences on cloud drop size as well, which should be analyzed in the further intensive studies. Meanwhile, it is notable that the decrease in cloud drop effective radius results in marked increase in cloud albedo.