#2659 "Langmuir Cirrus Meets Mr DZ"

#2659 "Langmuir Cirrus Meets Mr DZ"
8x10 oils stretched canvas

It was a beautiful day and I was watching the cirrus from the approaching spring system get ever nearer. 

Satellite Water Vapour View

The sky was a textbook on atmospheric circulations so I thought I would record it in oils. The cirrus of the warm conveyor belt was divided into Langmuir streaks of cloud. The leading edge of each band of cirrus spread out laterally when it reached the deformation zone - that three dimensional skin that enclosed the approaching warm and moist air mass. Each plume of moisture spread outward from its neighbour. The cirrus was at progressively lower levels in the atmosphere further toward the west. 

A jet on its way to Europe left a contrail within the moisture of the warm conveyor belt. That contrail evapourated rapidly in the drier air east of the deformation zone - not included in the painting. I noticed that the contrail drifted southward while I painted. This motion confirmed that as is typical for our location in eastern Ontario, the anticyclonic companion of the deformation zone was arriving at the lake first. 

There were Langmuir streaks in the surface of the lake as well with the light southwesterly breeze. I decided to include those as well. I paint what I see - everything interests me. 

There were no biting bugs and my 45 minutes spend on the front ridge were most enjoyable. The sun was warm on my back and the birds were singing to mark their territories. The bull frogs joined in with their chorus as well. 

The rain was due to arrive overnight and it did, just as the clouds in the sky foretold. We received 20 mm of rain with the spring storm. 

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