#2728 "November Sunsets of a Cold Fropa"

#2728 "November Sunsets of a Cold Fropa"
16x20 oils on canvas

The cold front was just arriving at the western shore of Singleton Lake at 4:30 pm on the evening of the last day of November 2022. I had been following the progress of this front most of the day. The strong southerly wind would shift rapidly to strong westerlies with the passage of the cold front. "FROPA" is a meteorological abbreviation for frontal passage. The Arctic air mass was cold enough for snowsqualls which started to develop immediately in its wake. 

The wind and the turbulent stratocumulus on the western shores of Singleton looked to be strong northwesterly. The winds and Langmuir streaks over the lake were still out of the southwest. I watched the clouds overhead moving rapidly toward the northeast. Those lines of altocumulus were on the western fringe of the warm conveyor belt. The gravity waves within the altocumulus reveal that the wind within those clouds was strong southerlies. 

The heavy rain provided by the moist flow had just ended moments before at the Singleton Sanctuary. My rain gauge was safely tucked away on winter vacation but a lot of liquid did fall! 

I wanted to accurately but artistically tell the story of this frontal passage in the language of the clouds and wind. 

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Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick