Tom Thomson's "First Snow in Autumn", Fall 1916

Tom’s motivation to “record” this particular observation was apparently the winter's first significant snowfall. Sometimes the title of a painting can be helpful. The patterns of snow on the balsam boughs create abstract patterns that would catch anyone's eye. 

I wondered about the type of tree that was carrying that snow load and was ready to label it as spruce. However, my Thomson friend suggested: "I suspect they were balsams rather than spruce. Balsams have a very regular, geometric arrangement of twigs that project in a plane from the main branches, creating a flat platform ideal for catching snow. The branches are also rather floppy, so they droop fetchingly with a relatively light load of snow. The lattice patterns thus created are very decorative and eye-catching, and appear in several paintings by Tom and some of the Group of Seven. I see these patterns outside our windows whenever we get the appropriate type and amount of snow." I concur with my consultant that the patterns depicted in the paintings are actually quite naturalistic and not stylized at all. The balsam fir is a favourite Canadian Christmas Tree.

First Snow in Autumn from 1916 oils on wood
12.8 x18.2 cm
(5.0 x 7.2 inches - smaller than his typical paint box size)
Bequest of Dr. J.M. MacCallum, Toronto, 1944
Accession number 4670

Tom's painting reminds me of what I have witnessed so many times in the wake of a snowsquall. Tom would have been painting after the first cold Arctic outbreak of the season in the wake of a strong low-pressure area. Shadows do not play a role in Tom’s painting and the viewing angle is not important. Tom was simply standing on the edge of a forest.  

First Snow in Autumn overlaid with images of actual
snow-laden balsam fir branches - outlined in white.
Tom painted what he saw and experienced.

The basic theory of snowsqualls is depicted in the graphic below. Cold and dry Arctic air is directed southward over a warm body of water. In this case, the Great Lakes provide an excellent source of heat and moisture over a given fetch of open water. The snowsquall bands grow with time and distance as they accumulate heat and moisture along their path over the water. Snowsqualls amplify in intensity with increases in the fetch, the water temperature, air mass instability and decreases in the temperature of the Arctic air. Cumulonimbus clouds capped at only 20,000 feet above the ground often create thunder-snow along these snowsquall bands. 

Graphic Courtesy of my COMET Friends in Boulder, Colorado

The snow that is deposited in the onshore and upslope flow within the resulting conveyor belt, is typically low-density snow. One part of water from the lake can produce 15 to 20 parts of light and very fluffy snow. The snow can pile up at the rate of 10 cm per hour or even higher. The snow has a consistency that is conducive to collecting on trees in intricate patterns. Air temperatures within the cloud of minus 12 to minus 15 Celsius are ideal for growing those large dendritic flakes that can really pile up. 

The first flakes might even partially melt on the branches. The spruce branches would still be warm from the autumn sun that was only recently blocked by the conveyor belt cloud. The melting and refreezing of those first flakes on the twigs would "glue" them to the spruce boughs. The icy arms of those first flakes can catch any flakes that follow

 and adhere them to the composition. This is what Tom saw and wanted to capture in oil. 

PowerPoint Slide from "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman"

The above graphic from my PowerPoint views the parallel
snowsqualls along their over-lake fetch.
The helical circulations of the individual
snowsqualls allow them to interact with
adjacent bands in order to enhance
the ascent and descent areas.

I used a lot of animation in "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" so that people might better understand the dynamics of the weather. 

This graphic is a simplified cross-section of the snowsquall
bands to reveal the interaction of the helical circulations.
The spacing between the snowsquall bands is directly related
to the height of the capping inversion at the top of the
 planetary boundary layer. The spacing increases as the
air mass becomes more unstable and the height of this
capping inversion rises. Typically the snowsqualls are separated
by 10 to 20 kilometres of fair weather. It is remarkable
that the treacherous whiteout conditions in the centre of the
snowsqualls are separated by kilometres of blue sky. 

I compare the physics of snowsqualls to that of oceanic Langmuir Streaks described in the graphic below.

For atmospheric bands, the distance between the snowsqualls is about three times the height of the capping inversion. This separation increases as the squalls increase in size and height effectively forcing the capping inversion to adjust to higher heights. This is typically observed as the snowsqualls intensify along their fetch over the open waters of the warm Great Lakes. 

The strongest snowsqualls require winds that are all aligned from the northwest through a deep layer of the atmosphere. For the strongest snowsqualls, these aligned winds must bring very cold Arctic air across the longest fetch of a warm body of water. The strongest snowsqualls are typically those that occur early in the winter while the lakes are still warm from a summer of heating by the sun.

This is a satellite view of what snowsqualls look like from space during an outbreak of cold Arctic air associated with the westerly winds that are required to deliver those snowsqualls toward Algonquin Park. The snowsqualls drop much of their load in the upslope on the western portions of the Algonquin Highlands. Areas east of Algonquin are in a relative "snow shadow" from westerly snowsqualls.  

A close-up view of this same satellite image shows the individual snowsquall conveyor belts. The blue arrows highlight the individual snowsqualls. The shape and orientation of the lakes greatly influence the snowsqualls. The northern snowsquall even enjoys a fetch over northern Lake Michigan and Lake Huron so it is especially intense. Shoreline frictional convergence also plays a significant role in snowsquall formation. 

The radar image to the left shows those same strong westerly snow squalls
from the satellite imagery moving onshore and reaching Algonquin.
Shovelling roofs clear of snow can be a dangerous necessity in snow belts. 
Snowsquall events can easily deliver five-foot or more accumulations.

Another image of "First Snow in Autumn", Fall 1916 

Plein air sketches are typically completed in an hour or even less. If the snowflakes drift into your paint, the oils become crystalline but it can be a nice effect – like painting with oatmeal. This could have happened to Tom while he worked away on this sketch. This oatmeal painting style has happened to me many times. The ice melts away and the water drains leaving unusual patterns in the oils once they dry.

Thomson painted primarily on small birch panels typically 8.5 x 10.5 inches. A sawmill in South River kept him supplied with these panels. A few of the smallest paintings were done on pine or cedar scraps from flour or orange crates. Tom tinted many of these wooden surfaces with brown oils. 

The 5.0 x 7.2 inch panel used for "First Snow in Autumn" is significantly smaller than the typical 8.5 x 10.5 inch panels that Tom used in his plein air paint box. The painting reveals some cracks in the wood so this is likely to be a scrap chunk that Tom salvaged from Mowat Lodge. The painting surface has be reported as the  lid of a cigar box. Tom was driven to create and painted on whatever surfaces he could find. Without examining the original panel, I am unsure how Tom held that panel in his paint box. I have devised a system whereby I mount small painting surfaces on larger, typically 11 x14 inch boards. Using this technique, I keep my fingers oil-free while painting to the edge and transporting the finished art, smudge-free. 

Tom was painting an observation of an interesting pattern in the natural world. Tom didn’t sign this particular painting as is typical with his plein air work. There is no visible estate stamp on the front of this painting and no mention of what might be written on the back. 

Joan Murray’s entry in her catalogue raisonné (1916.176 under the title Snow in the Woods) includes the following information:

Inscription verso: on cardboard backing: u.l., in green pencil, J.MacCallum / used in / First Snow in Autumn; b.c., in graphite, 86; l.r., in graphite, 7; u.c., in graphite, 4

In light that there was no use of the Tom Thomson estate stamp, my Thomson friend "wonders if perhaps MacCallum obtained this one directly from Tom sometime during the winter of 1916-17. If so, it would not have been in his studio after he died and would not have been documented or labelled as part of his estate. If this were the case, MacCallum might also have had direct information as to the time of year it was painted. " It is a mystery why Joan Murray used a title different from that of the National Art Gallery.

Keeping track of art is a big job... which is why I take the time to do that for myself. If the artist does not do it, who will or is able to?

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: For the Blog Version of my Tom Thomson catalogue raisonné, Google Search Naturally Curious "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now" or follow this link “http://philtheforecaster.blogspot.com/2022/10/tom-thomson-was-weatherman-summary-as.html”