#2898 "Dumoine Severe Backbuilding Anvils on the Southern Horizon"

#2898 "Dumoine Severe Backbuilding Anvils on the Southern Horizon"
Oils on commercial stretched canvas 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 3:30 pm Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466881 W77.768433.

The towering cumulus clouds to the south of John's Cabin were exploding into strong thunderstorms. The cumulonimbus clouds were potentially severe with back building anvils growing upwind into the prevailing southwesterly flow. I did not witness any "over-shooting" updrafts poking through the tropopause. The convection must be especially strong should the updraft possess so much energy that it explodes right into the stratosphere. Such thunderstorms demand respect and are best avoided. Modern radar and air traffic controllers guide the planes to vector around these dangerous storms.

It was still sunny on the Dumoine
when #2898 was finished... There
was a lot of weather but most would just 
recall that it was a beautiful day!

It was certainly pounding down rain along the path of these thunderstorms. Such storms can also produce flash floods should they follow the same path. The probability of "training of thunderstorms" along identical paths like train tracks is enhanced when the feature focusing their development also aligns with their direction of movement. These storms were certainly following the west-to-east oriented surface warm front as described in the 9 am painting #2894 "Dumoine Gravity Waves on Gravity Waves". 

The thunderstorms themselves are steered by the average wind through the most buoyant portions of the updraft. Severe thunderstorms that evolve into supercells actually create their own wind regime and tend to steer to the right of the mean flow as they evolve. There was a significant chance that these cells I observed were moving eastward along the west-to-east warm front with each of the five thunderstorms I observed dropping their load of rain along similar paths. 

Climate change and a warming atmosphere allow 7 to 8 percent more water vapour to be held therein with each degree Celsius increase. This additional moisture in the atmosphere is increased fuel for convection which also converts into heavier precipitation events. Greenhouse Earth has witnessed an increasing number of these catastrophic severe rain events.

The old frontal thunderstorms typically track southeastward while those along 
the warm front will train along the frontal boundary potentially following 
very similar paths dropping significant precipitation over a small area. 

Most of the time over the sparse population of Canada these torrential, convective training events occur over remote locations with nil impact on infrastructure. The probability of severe training thunderstorm events has increased with climate change and a warming climate along with Canada's increasing population and the associated infrastructure. The July 21, 2023, Halifax Record Rain Event is an example of such an event. 

The vigorous towering cumulus that developed between John's Cabin and the bases of the thunderstorms were triggered by outflow boundaries from the strong convection. The heavy rainfall with those storms draws air down to the ground along with the extreme precipitation. This air spreads outward from the heavy rain. Those outflowing boundaries interact with the undisturbed winds in the atmosphere creating areas where the air converges. That convergent air must go up and in an unstable and moist environment, those updrafts create the fresh convection as I included in my painting. 

There were still some gravity waves in the sky. I strongly suspect those were at the tropopause which was like a stable "bed sheet" being shaken by the thunderstorms. 

I had been painting since 6 am and it was pushing 5 pm when I finished this final weather observation of the day. I was just a bit tired and retired to the fire pit at John's Cabin to visit with the other participants of CPAWS DRAW 2024. 

When asked, I do my best to explain the lessons displayed in the sky... I do not intend to be 
dull or boring but it just comes naturally. I try to help if I can. 

This is number thirty-five of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2897 "Dumoine Convection on the Southern Horizon"

#2897 "Dumoine Convection on the Southern Horizon"
Oils on smooth panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 3:00 pm Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.467033 W77.768292.

                 Painting in the shade.               

I had a smooth panel that I thought would be fun for a mid-afternoon skyscape. I set up my easel in the shade of the shoreline white cedar tree which I had painted earlier in #2882 "Dumoine Shore Twisted Roots". Panels that have no "tooth" to grab the oils encourage the artist to be perhaps more painterly. The oils are easy to turn into mud on a slippery surface. This encourages the artist to resist the urge to overwork a canvas. Simply lay the right colours in and leave them alone. Move on...

Some convection was developing on the southern horizon along the surface warm front. The towering cumulus clouds were fueled by the warm and moist airmass. The cells were tipped over by the southwesterly winds aloft. 

There was a stable layer at higher levels that supported gravity waves. Those cloud bands confirmed the southwesterly winds aloft. The stable layer was the warm frontal surface. If we knew the height of that front above the Dumoine, we could estimate the location of the surface front to the south. The slope of a warm frontal surface is typically about 1 in 200. This means that if the gravity wave clouds in the stable layer were 1 to 2 kilometres above John's Cabin, the warm front would be about 200 to 400 kilometres away to the south. 

This is number thirty-four of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

#2897 "Dumoine Convection on the Southern Horizon" "done like dinner".
Do I have the energy for one more painting? 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2896 "Dumoine Campsite Screen of Pines"

#2896 "Dumoine Campsite Screen of Pines"
Oils on commercial canvas panel 10 X 8 (inches).
Started 11:00 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466989 W77.768072.

The trees that lined the northern edge of the Richard Rapids Campsite caught my eye. It was almost cool in the shade of the Dumoine forest. I enjoyed how the Dumoine peeked through between the tall trees.

I sat down to paint in a chair that had been left at the campsite. 

Art can be work and I have the tee shirt to prove it. 

This is number thirty-three of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

The following map details many of the places where I painted during CPAWS DRAW 2024. I was busy. 

I was painting at the yellow stick-pin in the above image.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2895 "Dumoine Campsite Deluxe Firepit"

#2895 "Dumoine Campsite Deluxe Firepit"
Oils on the rough side of a masonite panel 10 X 8 (inches).
Started 9:15 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466725 W77.76774.

I suspected that this would be my last full day of painting at CPAWS DRAW 2024 so I did not wish to waste a moment. Numerous jobs that I needed to attend were waiting for me back home. 

After completing #2894 "Dumoine Gravity Waves on Gravity Waves", I moved the easel a bit inland to chronicle the fire pit. I typically paint a fire pit on every CPAWS DRAW. I also wanted to stay in the shade and the August heat was going to make painting a challenge. 

On the first night at this portion of the Dumoine just south of Richard Rapids, I watched a large blaze from this fire pit. The fire pit could handle such a blaze, even though it was certainly unadvisable and impractical. The flames would have also consumed a lot of wood. If one wants to be comfortable, just sit closer to a small fire. It also makes conversation and viewing the stars that much easier. 

This is number thirty-two of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

#2895 "Dumoine Campsite Deluxe Firepit" "done like dinner"
on the rough side of a masonite panel.
Resist the urge to overwork a canvas. Lay it in and leave it alone, move on...

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2894 "Dumoine Gravity Waves on Gravity Waves"

2894 "Dumoine Gravity Waves on Gravity Waves"
Oils on canvas panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 8:45 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.467042 W77.767350.

It was time to retreat from the strong August sunshine and heat. I paddled upstream to the Dumoine Campsite and set up my easel in the shade on terra firma. I stood at the sandy slope beside the gnarled roots I had painted in #2882 "Dumoine Shore Twisted Roots" on Thursday, August 1st. The trees that surround the large fire pit provided the shadows and shelter that I needed. I had painted from the canoe for more than two hours and standing on the shoreline with my field easel was a welcomed change. 

The low horizon reveals that the focus of this painting is the weather - surprise, surprise. There were two trains of gravity waves in that sky that caught my interest. There were also gravity waves on the flatwater of the Dumoine that reflected the sky.  The morning light coloured the clouds and I wanted to capture those hues before they disappeared with higher sun angles. 

The larger bands of altocumulus clouds were evenly spaced with relatively smooth and straight edges. These gravity waves were aligned perpendicular to the southeasterly flow at cloud level. The flow followed a wave pattern upward into the cloudy crests and then downward into the trough below the lifted condensation level for that portion of the atmosphere. The stable layer sponsoring these waves was the warm frontal surface of the air mass. The amplitude and wavelength of the gravity waves are explained in the above inset overlaying the actual skyscape that I painted. 

These clouds are so common that the patterns and the science of their creation are typically underappreciated. The large size of these gravity waves prompted comparison with larger swells with longer wavelengths like those witnessed on the ocean. The energy that created those atmospheric swells was considerable and some distance away. An animation of the wind flow plays in my mind's eye whenever I see them. A similar process plays out on the surface of a lake with waves and wind. 

More subtle gravity waves were embedded on top of the larger waves. They are represented by the black waves in the inset above and the blue squiggles superimposed on the actual sky photo. These smaller-scale gravity waves revealed a wind component from the southwest. These winds would have been in the airmass above the warm frontal surface. Those winds veered in direction above the frontal surface.  Winds that veer with height are characteristic of warm air advection. 

Classic Warm Front Conceptual Model

None of this is going to be on any exam. It is just that I find clouds interesting and they reveal the weather. In this case, the surface front associated with the weather pattern was a hundred kilometres or more to the south and oriented west to east - more or less based on these cloud observations. I recall the surface winds (of the cold conveyor belt) as being light. It was going to be a great day for plein air painting but there would be weather along the warm front probably staying to the south of John's Cabin.

The following conveyor belt conceptual model of a mid-latitude weather system depicts my location and view given the characteristics of the cloud and the wind. 

This is number thirty-one of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

#2894 "done like dinner" and time to grab another canvas

Note that the gravity waves on the surface of the Dumoine River were swells and perpendicular to the current. Conditions were calm and those bands of reflection on the water's surface were not wind waves. The energy required to generate gravity waves can originate from either fluid at the stable interface that separates them. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2893 "Morning Fog Lifting over Pincushion Island"

#2893 "Morning Fog Lifting over Pincushion Island"
Oils on canvas panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 7:50 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466828 W77.768075.

 Photo from my canoe at 07:57 am 

The sun had cleared the forest and forced me to turn my gaze to the west away from the blinding glare. I was still just floating around in my canoe being directed by the gyre.

I simply pushed my canoe back from the sandy shore and into the cyclonic eddy. I allowed the gentle current to decide what I would paint. I went with that flow and did another view of Pincushion Island. This time the fog had lifted and I could see John's Cabin and the white birch trees that lined the shore. At one time, a thick fog hung over the hill behind the cabin and that was when I locked in that portion of the scene. 

At 7:50 am the fog was thick overhead and the scene was quite dark. The lighting was changing by the minute which can add a lot to the plein air experience. 

The location of painting #2893 and the yellow star is actually a 50-foot-long arc - a portion 
of that part of the cyclonic gyre that drifted my canoe. 

This is number thirty of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2892 "Thick Fog in the Sunrise Dumoine Forest"

 #2892 "Thick Fog in the Sunrise Dumoine Forest"
Oils on canvas panel 4 X 6 (inches).
Started 7:30 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.464872 W77.765106.

The sun was climbing above the Dumoine treeline. It was going to be a hot one so I retreated to the last bit of shadow to paint. I paddled eastward against the weak cyclonic swirl toward where I had first launched the canoe several days before. I pushed the canoe onto the sandy shore so it would not drift while I painted. I could have simply stepped out of the canoe and painted from the shore but there was no time to waste. The sun would clear the forest in the minutes it would take to move my easel. 

The paints were flying in my canoe as I raced to capture the moment.

This is number twenty-nine of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2891 "Dumoine Sandy Beach in the Mist"

#2891 "Dumoine Sandy Beach in the Mist"
Oils on canvas panel 4 X 6 (inches).
Started 7:15 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466175 W77.767978.

The morning fog was lifting with the August sunrise. I was still drifting in my canoe and painting up a storm on small panels. I thought that I would revisit the sandy beach since the visibility had greatly improved. This westerly view of the point includes the two white pines that dominate the sandy point. 

The red cyclonic swirl included in the accompanying graphic required that I pick up the paddle instead of the brush every so often. I had to reposition the canoe so that the selected view was still in sight without me turning my head like an owl. 

I started painting at this exact location with #2889 

"Dumoine Campsite Sandy Beach Foggy Sunrise"  at 6:30 am. The cyclonic gyre spun the canoe to be in front of Pincushion Island for #2890 "Foggy Sunrise at the Dumoine Pincushion Island" which I started to paint at 7:00 am. I paddled across the swirl to get back to where I had started the day. 

The drift of the canoe got me thinking about how the sandy shores might have been shaped after the last ice age ended about 21,000 years ago. The following graphic explains the main details.

The Dumoine River narrows at this location causing the central current to be stronger in midstream. Some interesting meteorology can be applied to that current. Science can explain how the sandy soils might have been sculpted over the eons when the Dumoine had an even stronger flow than it was in 2024. The meltwater from the retreating glacier and ice sheet could have easily carved the landforms as witnessed along the Dumoine. 

The larger sandy island would have formed during the strongest outflow of meltwater. The flow diverges at the col in the deformation zone. The slackening of the flow where the current splits would deposit the bulk of debris in that location. 

The debris would also spread out along the axis of dilitation of the deformation zone, The bulk of the deposits would still be located near the col with lesser amounts tapering off on the "wings". 

As the meltwater flow weakened and was more easily diverted to the right by the Coriolis force, the remaining sand and rock would be dropped by the divergent flow at the redirected deformation zone. This glacial debris would form the smaller Pincushion Island which would also be located further upstream closer to the outflow than the larger island.  

The axis of contraction of the deformation zone for each island can be identified. The debris carried by the meltwater is oriented along the upstream axis of contraction. Some of the material is deposited in the approach to the col which can be clearly seen was the case for Pincushion Island. 

Of course, I was not on-site during these proposed events, but the science makes sense. I find it very interesting, and I admit to possessing a very eager imagination and a strong inquisitiveness about the natural world. 

This is number twenty-eight of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2890 "Foggy Sunrise at the Dumoine Pincushion Island"

#2890 "Foggy Sunrise at the Dumoine Pincushion Island"
Oils on canvas panel 6 X 4 (inches).
Started 7:00 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.464658 W77.769022.

A Google Earth View of Pincushion Island and the painting location 2890 as well
as the cyclonic gyre that was guiding my canoe toward the next painting location 2891. 
The green deformation zone will be explained in another post... 

As far as I know, there is no official name for the small isle that I refer to as Pincushion Island in this flatwater section of the Dumoine. Pincushion was the only land that I could see when the canoe drifted a bit downstream - caught within the cyclonic gyre of the current. I grabbed another small panel and kept right on painting in the fog. My view was looking southwest toward John's Cabin but in reality, I could only see a matter of yards. Even the island would become masked at times by the thick peas-soup fog. 

Fog always reminds me of the wonderful time when we lived in Nova Scotia. The Maritimes is the very best place to be posted if you really wish to learn about the weather. Fog comes in various meteorological flavours and they are all challenging to forecast. Anyone who has never had a bust forecast with fog is either misguided or has no memory whatsoever.

A moment when the fog was more of a mist...

I recall once briefing the flight crews for some nighttime flying exercises at Shearwater, YAW. With a straight face, I had suggested in all honesty they had about four hours to complete their missions before the advection fog rolled in. 

The Corporal and I were leaving the Command Post after our portion of the briefing when we discovered that was not the best advice. Wisps of fog barely illuminated by the Shearwater lights, were racing inland on an onshore wind. We spun around and presented the amended forecast that "C0X0F" conditions (ceiling zero obscured with zero miles visibility in fog) were imminent. Ammended forecasts for fog were a way of life even though we tried and kept learning. But the fog was always right. Halifax has over 100 days of mist or fog each year. 

"Done like dinner" in the canoe. 

This is number twenty-seven of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick