#2084 "Early Morning Rain"

The precipitation foretold by #2083 "Moisture Conveyors" came to pass. Actually the meteorology was more complicated that one would think. There were two streams in the larger scale atmospheric river that were involved in producing the Saturday morning rain. I tried to squeeze in a paddle between each event. I can't explain why as a meteorologist and a fan of Gordon Lightfoot and his music that I have not used this name before.

The first heavy rain event ended around 8 am and produced the early morning rain that brought to mind Gordon Lightfoot's classic song. Here is the story behind that song which first introduced me to his music. I still paint to this music although my playlist has expanded greatly over the years.

Gord wrote the song in 1964 but its began during his stay in Westlake Los Angeles in 1960 where he studied music. While in California Lightfoot would sometimes get homesick. Gordon would go out to the Los Angeles International Airport on rainy days to watch the approaching aircraft. The imagery of the flights taking off into the overcast sky was still vivid with him four years later. He apparently was caring for his 5 month old son and he thought “I’ll put him over here in his crib and I’ll write myself a tune.” This creative song "Early Morning Rain" launched his career. Countless artists recorded this iconic song but the list did not include Frank Sinatra. Apparently old blue eyes was supposed to record the song but complained and threw the lyrics down because there were too many words.

I did a painting instead hopefully not with too many brush strokes. There was a northerly flow at cloud level just as the heavy rain was ending. The water vapour imagery clearly reveals the cyclonic circulation and the associated deformation zone that marked the western edge of the rain band. The clouds displayed a wide range of colours from purple to grey. Some embedded convection was still producing heavy rain off toward Seeley's Bay. The next band of rain was associated with a cooler stream in the atmospheric river.

I decided not to wait before I headed out in the canoe after the early morning rain. I managed to get back just in time before the early afternoon rain... everybody sing! The first canoe based picture shows the next rain band on the western horizon. I had enough time to paddle.