#2089 "Singleton Sunset Convection"

Every sunset offers another opportunity for a painting and a lesson in meteorology. The weakening convection as witnessed at 7 pm on Wednesday May 2nd, 2018 was certainly no exception. The northwesterly winds aloft were guiding the low level anvil with them. The air mass was certainly unstable but it required the day time heating from a spring day to set it off. These particular cells was also located along the warm front. The col in the deformation zone was far to the northwest. More convection and thunderstorms would develop overnight due to wind shear and the fabled low topped supercells. This type of convection is what prompts early season watches and warnings from large hail and even tornadoes.

Note the gravity waves in the bands of cirrostratus that also reveal the wind direction at the level of the deaying anvil. The dark cloud on the western horizon was the next thunderstorm.