#2375 "Fire and Rain Coming"

The sky was dramatic. A strong thunderstorm was bearing in on Singleton from the northwest. The cumulus ahead of the storm on the western horizon was still in brilliant sunshine. The water and sky were turned curious shades of green, purple and grey as the storm approached.

Lightning and thunder completed the special effects that the reality of nature always provides for free. I was listening to James Taylor in my mind and that explains the title of these 200 brush strokes. Classic!

A couple of canoeists were racing to reach shelter before the torrential rain arrived. I am not certain if they made it. Their paddles were flashing in the sunlight as they put in extra effort.

Nature Deificit Disorder does not exist within the Singleton Sanctuary. We work with nature to create an exciting lifestyle. There is always something interesting to be experienced.

I would visit these same clouds an hour later in #2376 "Singleton Mammatus".

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2374 "Dawn Day Singleton"

I like to focus on the simple and positive aspects of nature. The special lighting on the pieces of sunrise summer stratocumulus were all I really needed to brighten my day. There is no danger of Nature Deficit Disorder in the Singleton Sanctuary. The deer and porcupine were grazing on the clover which comprises our lawn. The critters were enjoying the quiet time as well before the world woke up on the new day. Sometimes we see two porcupines. We call them both "Piney" as we can not tell them apart.

June 6th was always a day of remembrance for me. Weather played an important role in the successful events of D-Day. The weather could have been much better but then the Germans would have been prepared and waiting instead of being surprised. The title is somewhat based on D-Day but with the word "dawn" replacing "decision". Nelson Chadwick, my Father landed on Juno Beach on June 7th, 1944. He did not talk about the war but did mention that he did not get his boats wet on that day. Their patriotic efforts allow us to paint in peace and I will never forget that...

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2373 "Convection Going"

The line of convection took about three hours to leave. This is the back edge of the cells just at sunset as it was exiting Stage Left. The storms were not very strong and I do not recall any lightning or thunder. The sunset light was phenomenal. There were some stable layers producing gravity waves in the wake of the convection. Is the the sequel to #2372 "Convection Coming".

My eye was also caught by the shreds of SCUD - Scattered Cumulus Under Deck that were racing along in the northerly flow. These tattered clouds were not far above the surface of Singleton.

I included the characteristic porch lights on the western shore of Singleton Lake along with Wick's Pick Lodge. The historical Wick's Pick Lodge is included in all of my Singleton Lake paintings.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2372 "Convection Coming"

The line of convection arrived on time. It was not very strong and I do not recall any lightning or thunder. It was pretty and this is what I saw as it arrived. I like the warm colour of the boundary layer sky. The backlit cumulus really stood out against the earthy yellow of the lower atmosphere. These were certainly not severe storms and no watches or warnings were appropriately issued for them.

I would visit the back side of these very same thunderstorms in #2373 "Convection Going".

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2371 "Late May Evening Rain"

A cold frontal line of thunderstorms was bearing down on Singleton Lake. The surface front had just passed by. The cloud level winds had already veered around to the northwest. I did not seen any lightning. Temperatures that were in the high twenties Celsius dropped into the single digits in less than an hour. Heat started to leave the pool. The water felt warmer than the air when I went swimming. I was trying to keep my brush strokes bold and to a minimum in number. Always be bold. You do not go anywhere new as an artist if you follow someone else.

The thunderstorms west of Singleton
do not show up in the observing network -
only on remote sensing. 

The Wicks Pick Lodge Cottages stood out like a beacon against the spring forest on the western shore of Singleton Lake.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2370 "Singleton Warm Front Horizon"

The warm conveyor belt deformation zone lines of cirrostratus stretched across the horizon. The deck of altocumulus that was on the distant horizon supported some convective bumps. Rain was on the way even though we were in the path of the anticyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt. I pointed the fingers of my right hand in the direction of the drift of the cloud elements and that forced my thumb to point downward.

Meanwhile brisk northwesterly winds steered streaks of stratocumulus across the lake. The turbulence in the cloud was evident as the fragments of moisture tumbled along in the planetary boundary layer. The eastern basin of Singleton Lake is pretty much sheltered from that direction of winds although the surface winds were light westerly. This was another example of the Ekman spiral at work with the surface winds being backed from the cloud level winds by 45 degrees. Surface friction over the Canadian shield is a force to be reckoned with.

The conceptual models that I applied to the clouds in the atmosphere revealed the weather that was coming beyond the horizon. Every cloud has a story to tell as long as you immerse yourself in nature and are prepared to take the time to watch and listen.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2369 "Singleton Sliver of Sunrise"

I had rolled over in bed and noticed the the western shore was afire with the light of sunrise. The colours were amazing but I knew they could not last long. There was an overcast deck of altocumulus. The direct beam from the sun had to thread the needle to reach the far shore of the Singleton Sanctuary. Astronomically speaking there is not much margin for error to shine light between the eastern horizon and a deck of cloud maybe two miles above the ground. That light show was gone in just a few minutes.

The satellite images told the story. The imagery at 9:45 UTC showed clear skies starting just east of Singleton and extending as far east as the Appalachians. The deck of cloud was also moving eastward with an upper disturbance following it from Huntsville. The day was going to be predominately cloud with some afternoon rain. The sunniest part of the day was the ten minutes before most people got out of bed.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2368 "Stratocumulus Street Creatures"

There are always shapes in the clouds if one takes the time to look . Turbulent stratocumulus is typically a treasure trove of creatures. The northerly streets of stratocumulus typically keep all of these ducks in a line. There might be bunnies, squirrels, chickens and cats too. These creatures even cast shadows on the western shore of Singleton Lake. Let your mind imagine and enjoy the nature that can surround us every day.

The cold front had passed through on Friday and much colder air mass was flooding across the province to finish the month of May. The showers had turned the lush forests of the Singleton Sanctuary to a bright green. All creatures including the imagery cloud critters are safe within the Singleton Sanctuary.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2367 "Singleton May Rain Clouds"

There is a lot of structure in what would initially appear as a simple rain cloud. One band of rain had already passed by but there was another coming on the western horizon of Singleton Lake.

These bands of rain are often missed by the somewhat coarse observation network. That is partially why I was such a big fan of remote sensing.

Radar, satellite and lightning data were my friends. The internal structure of the warm conveyor belt and the storm could be discerned in that information. One could see and interpret all of the details in the patterns. Vortices and deformation zones also are apparent in the radar images as precipitation is an important subset of the cloud and moisture fields. When this information is assimilated into a conceptual model, one could also anticipate what might happen in the future. That is the basis of prediction.

The other most important reason I enjoyed remote sensing is that you did not have to get wet or place yourself in harms way to use it in the science of meteorology. Everyone might want to see a tornado before they die, but not just before they die.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2366 "Singleton Crescent Moon Summer Sunset"

More than a couple of months of COVID-19 Pandemic Isolation has had a huge impact at Singleton. There were no jet contrails in the sky. That was all natural cirrus in this sunset sky. There was not a contrail in sight. I had to look for the crescent moon. It was very high in the sky. I enjoy these quiet evenings of reflection.

Nature seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief during this period of human isolation. The loon platform had been undisturbed and all looked good. The loons started nesting on Mother's Day and the chicks are expected on June 7th. (Two chicks hatched out right on schedule and the loon family is doing very well.)

Those long strands of cirrus looked like a stretching deformation process to me but it was instrumental to have a satellite view to confirm the meteorological process taking place.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2365 "Sunset Flurry Roll Over"

Cold northwesterly winds behind a May cold front was rolling this decaying piece of cumulus cloud merrily along. Time lapse photography would have been a wonderful asset to better understand these motions. Wisps of snow were falling through the turbulent winds. Some gravity waves were even created in the turbulent environment of the planetary boundary layer of the atmosphere. A few higher level chunks of altocumulus still caught the white light of the setting sun. The lower level rays from the sun set the tumbling and crystalline cumulus on fire. The name of this painting sounds like a tasty dessert to end the day. And so it was!

The choppy wave action in the east basin of Singleton reflected the sky colours chaotically. The loons were on the floating nesting platform but were easily riding out the waves.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2364 "May Moisture Pulses"

A warm conveyor belt is typically presented as a single and continuous surge of warmth and moisture. It in fact consists of multiple pulses of heat and moisture each with it own local maximum wind and enhanced deformation zone. The bands of separate deformation zone pulses all meld together at the extreme leading edge of the larger warm conveyor belt. Close examination might reveal distinct and separate lines like rings on a tree for quite some time until the bands of moisture mix into a single swath of moisture.

I liked the energy in these clouds and it needed to be recorded on a canvas. The curvature of the confluent asymptote and the direction of cloud drift made me point the thumb of my right hand downward. The gravity waves in the cirrostratus also gave the storm relative wind direction away. The satellite image confirmed what my right hand already knew. Singleton was under the anticyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt. There would be more cloud and probably precipitation to the north with the cyclonic companion.

A sky reveals that a spring storm was on the way but that Singleton would miss most of the precipitation except that along the cold front as the system passed to the east.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2363 "Backlit Singleton Stratocumulus"

The energetic stratocumulus clouds were backlit by the late afternoon sun. They were vigorous and rolling and turning over in the brisk northwesterly winds. Shafts of snow virga reached for the ground. Stratocumulus clouds have a tremendous amount of personality as they interact with the terrain and exchange heat and moisture with the ground. Individual stratocumulus clouds have an exciting story to tell indeed but it can be a complicated past with an uncertain future - more of a John D. MacDonald tale featuring a Travis McGee character than a review for the Bulletin of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.

We were in COVID lock-down and would be for the foreseeable future. The very good news was that I was getting at lot of time at my easel. The other good news is that I could stay safely at home and enjoy the inspiration that arrived on my doorstep.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2362 "Sunday Cirrus Coming Near Us"

The high level deformation zone had already passed into western Quebec. The warm air had continued to push far northeastward toward James Bay. This placed the col in the deformation zone skin to the north of Singleton Lake. Gravity waves were more conspicuous in this anticyclonic companion flow of the warm conveyor belt. I positioned the fingers of my right hand in the direction of the cloud drift and my thumb pointed downward. Meteorology can be that simple.

This warm conveyor belt had been pushing northeastward for several days. Pulses of moisture were clearly evident in the satellite view of the warm conveyor belt. This is the typical situation with every flow in the atmosphere in that pulses of flow occur in wave-like patterns with wave-like regularity. One should always anticipate regular variations in the weather regardless which scale of time and space you might be viewing. 

The spring colours were almost fully emerged in the forests. The biting bugs had also emerged. It was going to be a beautiful Sunday in paradise so I decided to make the best of this early morning skyscape. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.