#2218 "Sunset Concert in AC and CI"

A winter storm was on the way and this is the way it looked early on the evening of Wednesday December 19th, 2018. Company was just about to arrive in time for Christmas and this winter storm would make certain that it would be a white one. I have always compared the forces that construct the lines and shapes in the atmosphere as more of a ballet than a battle. One can also compare it to a musical where each line and shape have a tune to play. If you put all of the notes together you can achieve a concert or maybe even a symphony. The chords in this piece are composed of altocumulus and cirrus and of course the rays from the setting sun. Whether it be music or art, they are still sciences and branches of the same tree of learning.

Understanding the weather simplifies into a few very important conceptual models of specific weather patterns. The Conveyor Belt Conceptual Model (CBCM) of a storm system is the most important of these. The important step is to find your specific location within the CBCM of the storm and thus understand the weather that will cross your path. Large conceptual models are typically composed of smaller dynamic meteorological features which can also be represented by conceptual models. All of the weather estimates are in a relative sense compared to the current conditions. Quantitative weather requires actual measurement and not just visual observations.

This pattern is actually a favourite of mine and it dates back to the 1980's after a lecture from Roger Weldon. Roger had opened the wonder of the deformation zone to me. What I wanted to know was "why" the line was shaped the way it was. If one knew why then how and when and understanding the weather had to follow. I made a long and happy career out of those questions.

This was a nearly a straight deformation zone gently bowed in the direction of the warm conveyor belt (WCB). The col in the deformation zone was further to the north and I was looking at the anticyclonic quadrant of the WCB deformation zone.

The partner cyclonic quadrant of that deformation zone was overhead Singleton Lake and still had some lift to generate the altocumulus. The lines in the sky can all be understood and explained. A picture is worth a lot of words. Several pictures can be worth many more.

Of course one does not need to know any of this to enjoy the sunset.

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