#2686 "Lyndhurst July Thunderstorm"

#2686 "Lyndhurst July Thunderstorm"
5x7 inches oil

There were no clouds in the sky so I decided to paint something in the Studio and have some fun with my aging oils before it was too late. 

This afternoon thunderstorm was behaving as most do. The convective cell was riding the Lake Ontario lake breeze convergence line across Lyndhurst. We would not get a drop of rain from this storm even though it rained hard just five kilometres to the north. The southerly breeze being drawn into the convective cell was even fairly light. It was the calm before the storm. The rear flank downdraft would sweep across the lake after the storm had passed safely to the northeast of our Singleton Sanctuary. 

Lake breezes are circulations created by heating over land surfaces as compared to the relative inefficient heating of darker and lower albedo water surfaces. The temperature contrast between the warm land and cold waters creates a circulation that blows onshore at low levels and returns over the water aloft. This temperature contrast is most pronounced on warm sunny days in the spring when the lakes are still cold from a winter of cooling. The specific heat or heat capacity of water is much higher than dry soil - five times higher in fact. On a sunny day, the dry land heats up while the water surfaces remain cold. Cool breezes blow off the water and onshore to replace the air rising convectively over the warmer land.

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Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick