Fluid Forecasting

Meteorology is everywhere. The lines and swirls that shape the clouds reveal the secrets behind their creation. The same thing happens in any fluid. One just needs a tracer substance to make them visible. Duck weed works just fine. 

A Group of Seven Experience at Charlton Lake

The attachment says it all...

Wilson Street Studios - Kawartha Highlands with Phil the Forecaster

Kawartha Highlands - Canoe and Paint with Phil the Forecaster.For more details, follow the links ... hope to have a full Group of Eight! August 6-10, 2014.

We are just a couple of weeks away but there is still time. The class is half full or half empty depending upon your perspective. This should be fun - I write all my own humour just in case it isn't obvious. Here is a link that will give you even more insight. This paint out is as much about adventure as it is about art.

http://www.wilsonstreetstudios.com/wilson-studio-blog/plein-air-in-kawartha-highlands-provincial-park

Cold Frontal Westerlies

The cold front and heavy rain had passed through overnight. The strong winds and turbulent stratocumulus clouds dominated the weather. The winds helped to keep the hungry deer flies at bay. The biting bugs have been especially ferocious this summer. This view is looking northwesterly across the points into the east basin of Singleton Lake.
Robert Hedden and the Plein Air Painters Thousand Islands Region (PAPTIR) came to Singleton Lake to paint. This was their Third Annual Paintout here at the lake. We had about 8 artists with a pot luck lunch. What could be better. There were a lot of snakes but no one was too frightened as the slithered around the easels. That was a gray rat snake at my feet in the last photo.
Oils on medium burnt sienna oil tinted foundation on commer

cial canvas - 8 X 10

Wilson Street Studio Art Retreats for 2014
Keith and Helen from the Wilson Street Studios tell me that there are still openings for the  Kawartha Highlands Retreat. That's good news - there is still room! I try to advance rather than retreat and have been practicing for this adventure. Art is more than just painting. It is telling stories around the campfire - watching the satellites and stars and learning from your fellow adventurists on this artist journey we share. I also plan to talk about the weather, climate change ... and any topics of interest. Doing all of this in the Kawartha Highlands from your canoe will make the "Advance" memorable.
I will post something I did yesterday on the panels I have prepared for this canoe trip. The panel surface encourages one to be loose with the paint. Fun!

Canada Day 2014 - Raising the Largest Maple Leaf Flag Along the MacDonald-Cartier Corridor

The pictures say it all. There was great attendance and the southwesterly wind flew the flag very well. The thunderstorms passed by to the north and the south. It was a great day ... and thanks to the generous folks from the Smart Centres. This Canadian Flag is already a landmark in its Birthplace - Brockville. The 50 Years of the Flag Committee still has much to do by February 15th, 2015.

 

Happy Canada Day from Brockville, the Birthplace of the Canadian Flag

There will be weather today!
Satellite imagery was always my "go-to" resource. Every line and swirl means something and diagnosing the atmosphere is just like reading a book. You just have to learn the vocabulary.
The attached early morning visible image is really useful - the sun casts shadows and allows one to fine the high convective tops. That prefrontal line through Peterborough is a concern for sure. Convection will fire along it first. The cold front is the line of convection casting a shadow west of Barrie and then linking to the thunderstorms north of Sudbury.
Note how eastern Ontario is clear! Hot and sunny weather at least to start. The thin cirrus over Brockville now will probably evapourate away except for the contrails.
The question is whether the atmosphere is capped in the low levels or not. If there is no capping inversion then cumulus clouds will form this morning and reduce the amount of heating. If cumulus is prevented from developing by a low level cap then the skies will stay sunny until the prefrontal line arrives later this afternoon. This would allow the sun to really charge up the atmosphere and load the canons for the thunderstorms. I suspect there is enough wind shear to organize the thunderstorms. There are some other important things I want to look at but I am retired and will sit back and enjoy the Canada Day Show. Boom...