Sometimes it takes a team working together collaboratively, to deduce the most probable Creative Scene Investigation solution. The process is very similar to the Fireside Chats we had every shift at the Weather Centre. The troupe of Thomson friends who offer their expertise can collectively come up with some terrific revelations - right out of the blue! The group of specialists has grown over the years and it is important to listen to their sage opinions.
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Moonlight Fall 1915
Oil on composite wood-pulp board
10 3/8 x 8 1/2 in. (26.4 x 21.6 cm)
Tom's Paint Box size, 1915.83
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With regards to "Moonlight Fall 1915", one Thomson friend wrote:
- Foreground - no distinctive features, sparse vegetation, short unidentifiable conifers, taller trees (one apparently dead) could be black spruce.
- Background - moderate distance away, relatively featureless skyline.
The verso indicates some uncertainty about the date - "1916 or 15?". Could this be a similar view to the ragged black spruce we dealt with at some length in a previous post? (See "Tom Thomson's Ragged Pine 1916" pictured below). It was not the same tree, obviously. Possibly looking south-ish across Little Cauchon Lake. The full moon was April 18th in 1916, conceivably during the fishing trip. If this was at Little Cauchon Lake, could "Moonlight" been painted before the supercellular thunderstorm convection depicted in the ragged black spruce sketch?
May be a bit of a stretch, but there is nothing to suggest whether it's actually fall - or spring, or summer for that matter. We know that some of the sketches were misdated. It's a start, anyway."
These very astute "quick" perceptions from my Thomson friend were pure gold and more than just a "start"! Let's take a closer look.
The timing of Tom's plein air effort could be anywhere from mid-evening even up to midnight when the moon is in the southern sky.
I then reached out to my colleague Johnny Weather and the following is what we came up with.
"It seems like a placid night with a full moon. The moon is low in the sky causing a reflection on the lake. The artist is looking southerly with dead trees and younger ones in the foreground, the lake in the middle with the clouds and the moon in the centre, with hills in the background. The clouds are altocumulus invading from the west moving eastwards. There are signs of instability forming in the midlevels indicating Alto Cumulus Castellanus (ACC) or floccus forming like castles. Showers could form from those clouds around sunrise. The twirls in the closer clouds look like they are made from the mid level wind beginning to strengthen ahead of a warm front or maybe a warm conveyor belt. Tomorrow, the temperature will be warmer and more humid caused by the morning showers.
On the basic training observing met course we were taught to look at waving trees, flags, windsocks and waves to estimate the wind. White caps for example needed at least a wind of 20 knots (37 km/h). The lines on a windsock are 10 knots so if you can see 2 lines while preparing for takeoff, the wind is at least 20 knots. Flags need a 20 knot wind to be straight out."
The practical Beaufort Scale summarizes some of Johnny's wind observations mentioned above.
Johnny also mentioned that he had "
never witnessed those altocumulus patterns" in his long career. Tom would have been anxious to record something so rare. I look for those swirls and if you look hard enough, you will find them. See "
The Theory of Unified Swirls" for background information on the formation and interpretation of swirls in the sky. In any case, this was an exceptional weather pattern that appeared in the sky while the artists visited around the campfire. Tom just had to paint that weather!
Lewis Fry Richardson, (1881 – 1953) was an English mathematician, physicist, meteorologist, psychologist, and pacifist who pioneered modern mathematical techniques of weather forecasting. He wrote the accompanying very insightful verse. He certainly looked at the weather with the same inquiring mind as Thomson.
Those whirls in Thomson's sky may look chaotic but they are actually well-choreographed steps of the weather ballet. The paired "N" and "X" swirls speak of local increases in the southwesterly flow that advect bursts of fuel, namely heat and moisture into the weather situation. Tom painted what he saw and science can unravel the meaning clearly hidden within those brush strokes.
Using the information from Johnny Weather and the other Thomson friends, Thomson was located north of the surface warm front probably along the central axis of the warm conveyor belt (
near the yellow star in the graphic). The instability observed by Thomson during the full-moon evening was a strong indication that the air mass was more than just a bit unstable! The supercellular thunderstorm that provided the inspiration for "
Ragged Pine 1916" could have easily occurred during the afternoon of the following day.
The wind generating those significant waves was the last unknown required to fully understand this painting and perhaps a second plein air painting... please let me explain.
The support for this deduction would have been easy if Tom had only told us the direction of the wind that generated the waves on that moonlit evening. If the winds were easterly Beaufort Scale 5 as explained in the following graphic, the storm approaching on the southwestern horizon would have been large, slow-moving and strong. Those are the kind of spring storms that create ideal conditions for supercullular convection across Algonquin Park. See "
Weather Lessons for Everyone from the Cold Conveyor Belt Wizard" for an explanation of how the direction and wind speed of the cold conveyor belt can be used to deduce the characteristics of the approaching storm.
Recall that Thomson stayed at Canoe Lake until mid-April 1916 and then joined Lawren Harris, Lawren’s cousin Chester Harris, and his patron Dr. MacCallum on the Cauchon Lakes for a fishing trip during the last two weeks of April.
The orientation of the Cauchon Lakes encourages winds to channel along a northwest-southeast orientation. Briefly:
- A southerly or northerly wind would not be conducive to large waves over Little Cauchon given the relatively short fetch across the lake from those directions.
- Southeasterly winds typically associated with a cold conveyor belt would have a long fetch and could produce large waves.
- Northwesterly winds in the wake of a cold front would also support large wave action.
The unstable altocumulus skies indicate that a warm frontal weather situation was crossing the campsite that evening. The only option capable of producing large waves over Little Cauchon Lake was for Beaufort Scale 5 terrain funnelling southeasterlies associated with a cold conveyor belt. This is circumstantial evidence but can be convincing when added to the other observations.
The yellow star on the following map locates the probable campsite for the fishing/painting trip.
Tom was camping with like-minded artists on Little Cauchon Lake. Life would have been very good! The evidence provided above makes it a strong possibility that "Moonlight" was painted on April 18th when the moon was full. The strong cold conveyor belt winds reveal that a strong and slow moving weather system was approaching their camp. The mesocyclone supercellular thunderstorm of "Ragged Pine (Black Spruce)" could have easily been recorded the following afternoon associated with the cold frontal passage.
Note that really severe supercells tend to form on subtle convergence lines in advance of the surface cold front. Such lines are the possible remains of the nocturnal low-level jet, outflow boundaries from previous convection or a multitude of terrain-induced effects. These supercells have full access to the heat and moisture of the warm conveyor belt as well as wind shear.
As a severe weather meteorologist, I would carefully diagnose the data looking for those convergence lines in anticipation of severe convection. It was vital to "pull the trigger" on the Severe Thunderstorm or even Toronado Warning when the first cumulus erupted along the identified line. Otherwise, there would be no chance of getting any significant lead time with the damaging event that was about to unfold. Vital predictive science must be completed before the event to anticipate the weather, aka forecasting the weather. After the storm develops, the science becomes more observational. By the way, none of this is going to appear on any exam...
"Moonlight" could have easily resulted from the same fishing trip as "
Ragged Pine (Black Spruce) 1916" and the sketch for the "
West Wind".
Thomson was obviously in "the creative zone" producing some of his finest art.
The application of the estate stamp on the lower right of the "Moonlight" panel barely left a mark - that is a good thing!
Harris would have been with Tom that moonlit evening but the memory might have been fuzzy. Only two years later, he and MacDonald would be sorting through that tall stack of Thomson panels salvaged from the Shack. Perhaps Harris insisted that the painting was done in 1916 and not 1915 while others disagreed? We will never know.
Harris and MacDonald assumed the challenge of organizing and building Tom's legacy. It was a monumental task and Canadian society continues to benefit from their efforts. Any errors are easily forgiven if people are doing their best. As well, history must be placed within the context of the times. Those years were very traumatic for both men.
Lawren enlisted in May 1916 but due to a heart defect was deemed medically unfit to serve overseas during World War One. He served as a musketry officer at Camp Borden and then Hart House at the University of Toronto. The death of Tom Thomson in July 1917, followed by that of Harris's beloved younger brother, Howard, while inspecting a German post in February 1918, would have pushed Lawren over the edge. Harris who also suffered from a serious sleep disorder, was consumed with grief. He suffered a nervous breakdown and based on medical grounds was discharged from the army in May 1918.
MacDonald was also devastated by Tom's death. Recall that MacDonald was the senior artist at Grip and a close friend and mentor of Thomson. The fellowship fostered their art and they both grew tremendously. In September 1917, MacDonald and another Thomson friend, John William Beatty erected a memorial cairn at Hayhurst Point on Canoe Lake. The effort to carry the heavy materials up the slope and to build the pyramidal cairn was brutal. MacDonald suffered a physical collapse and possibly a stroke during its construction. He was bedridden for several months.
This is the context in which both men laboured to respect their lost friend in the spring of 1918. Both apparently sought refuge in art. Later in 1918, Harris prevailed upon MacDonald to join their now-famous boxcar trips to the Algoma region north of Lake Superior. The Group of Seven would follow in May 1920 and the rest is history...
New facts like those revealed during the "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" were only possible with the science developed since 1918. This knowledge may be added to the story but one must not change history. It is what it is.
Inscription recto:
Inscription verso:
- c., estate stamp;
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"Moonlight" in Tom's Paint Box
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- u.l., in graphite, 1916 or 15?;
- u.m., in graphite, OK / GT (circled);
- c., in graphite, n. 8134;
- l.r., in graphite (upside down) 5552;
- l.r., in graphite, under 2 above: 8;
- l.l., in graphite, The Art Emporium, Vancouver #4565;
- l.l., #5; u.m., in graphite, R?;
- u.m. on frame, #18
Provenance:
- Estate of the Artist
- Private collection, by descent?
- The Art Emporium, Vancouver
- Laing Galleries, Toronto
- Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal, 1986
- Fraser Brothers Montreal, 23 October 1986, lot 118
- Private Collection, Toronto
There can be no guarantee that the sequence of weather events as described actually occurred. However, I can recall several similar precedent weather situations.
One memorable event southeast of Georgian Bay produced freezing rain overnight in advance of a warm front. The icy morning was followed by tornadic mesocyclones ahead of the cold front during the afternoon. A gentleman walking his dog got much too close to a tornado. The verifying report was appreciated although it is never advisable to be near severe weather. Apparently, the little dog even got briefly airborne! Both events were well predicted despite how rare and extreme they were. Those are the kind of days you live for as a meteorologist to serve and protect as best as you can.
A lot of interesting stories can be discovered with boots on the ground, open minds and some science. As mentioned, this story might be fiction but the science is factual. Thank you once again to my Thomson friends.
Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,
Phil Chadwick
These very astute "quick" perceptions from my Thomson friend were pure gold and more than just a "start"! Let's take a closer look.
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