British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner may have been even more obsessed with weather and clouds than I am.
And that's saying something. I've always loved his landscapes and waterscapes in which the sky is often the real subject.
Turner painted a series of remarkable sunsets after the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. My favorite is "Sunset on the Lake." Looking out on Green Lake this summer, I sometimes feel as though I am watching that painting come to life.
Technically, the scarlet skies following a volcanic eruption are not quite the same as the crimson sunsets we've been seeing because of wildfire smoke.
Volcanic sunsets are produced mainly by microscopic sulfate aerosols high in the atmosphere. Wildfire smoke consists of tiny particles of soot, organic compounds and ash much closer to the ground. Different particles, yet they paint the evening sky in remarkably similar ways.
We've all learned a little atmospheric science this summer.
Smoke filters, scatters and absorbs sunlight. The shorter blue wavelengths are scattered away, while the longer red and orange wavelengths are scattered much less and continue on to our eyes. When the sun is low on the horizon at sunset, its light passes through even more smoke, making the reds and crimsons especially vivid.
Turner didn't simply paint beautiful skies — he studied them.
He read about weather, attended scientific lectures and carefully observed clouds and changing light. Long before color photography, he captured the behavior of light in the atmosphere so faithfully that researchers have analyzed the colors in his paintings to better understand the effects of volcanic aerosols on the sky.
But Turner also believed weather carried meaning. Calm skies suggested peace and hope. Sunlight breaking through a storm symbolized renewal.
If he were here now, I suspect Turner would have been inspired to reach for his sketchbook. I just wish this inspiration hadn't drifted here on the wind.
