#2689 "Sunset August Fourth Anvils"

#2689 "Sunset August Fourth Anvils"
14x18 inches oils

The cumulonimbus was north of YTR.
Singleton is almost exactly equidistant
between YGK, WJM and WGH. 

The weather is always inspirational. The thunderstorm was far to the west and actually north of Trenton. According to radar, the central updraft of the convective cell measured 160 kilometres to the west - one hundred miles. 

What really caught my eye were the tendrils of clouds drifting down from the anvil and intercepting the sunset light. The fiery show of colour and shape lasted for several minutes and was etched into my mind. The virga process would have been similar to that which produces mammatus but in this case there was not enough moisture apparently to produce those distinctive pouches of cloud. 

The southwesterly upper flow was also revealed by the gravity waves embedded within the thunderstorm anvil. Close examination of the colours in the sky also showed gravity waves in the very thin cirrostratus. 

Water Vapour Imagery. Connect the convective, cold anvils to
locate the quasi-stationary front. 

The jet stream stream directing the anvil of the thunderstorm was oriented west to east across southern Ontario. The jet stream orientation must be the same as the zonal and nearly quasi-stationary frontal zone. Cool air was to the north of the front but the United States was at the start of a record-smashing heat wave. A Heat Wave Warning had been issued for portions of southern Ontario that were south of the frontal boundary. 

The Heat Wave of early August.
Some parts of Oregon recorded their longest streak of days above
100°F (37.8°C). Also very hot in British Columbia with over
41°C  (105°F). Severe drought conditions covered much of central
and western US.  Wildfires were raging in western US,
some with extreme fire behaviour.

I completed this skyscape on August 5th, 2022 - the same day as Tom Thomson's birth in 1877. He would have been 145 years old... It was appropriate that I was painting a thunderstorm. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick