Rain

I wanted to capture the atmosphere of heavy rain without painting every rain drop .. I set up under the front porch and looked across the field at the stand of tall white pines on Long Reach Lane. It was a bit chilly and certainly damp. This is the fourth painting in this weather series that started with cirrus and progressed through altostratus to rain clouds and finally rain.

The rain just kept pouring. There is a "sweet spot" north of the upper storm centre where the eastward translation of the system (with respect to the earth) is balanced by the westward flow of the rain clouds north of the storm (with respect to the atmosphere). These opposite and equal motions balance each other out. The net result is that the portion of the storm producing heavy rain can be nearly stationary over the "sweet spot" on the earth's surface. Really heavy rainfalls can accumulate locally and catch people by surprise. I had better go and bail the boat. I was not surprised though.