CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF.... CLOUDS

Over the last two to three weeks the majority of days have been cloudy. That's pretty typical in the winter months.

There are a few reasons why this is the case in the Upper Midwest.

One reason is because of the cool temperatures -- the colder the temperatures the easier saturation is. When you have saturated conditions clouds are more likely.

Another point, which goes hand in hand, is the lower sun angle. Because the sun angle is lower it is tougher to get rid of the clouds. Warming up the air will make it drier and make it easier for clouds to dissipate, that's why it tends to be sunnier in the summer.

Here's the last point from Meteorologist Jeff Haby:

The ground surface is often high in moisture content in winter. This can occur from the snow on the ground and snow melting which saturates the soil. With the cool temperatures outside, it is easy for this moisture to evaporate and saturate the air above. Any lifting will help produce clouds. Snow on the ground also reflects solar radiation which keeps temperatures cooler.

Monday will be another cloudy day....

You can see some clearing out in western Iowa... so it's possible there could be some more peaks of sunshine. Temperatures will get boosted a few degrees.

There will likely be some more sunshine on Tuesday:

And we get a litttttle warmer:

Clouds likely come back for the rest of the week, but temperatures will gradually warm up as the week goes on due to a ridge in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

We will be watching some storminess around the end of the week/weekend.

There's still some question marks on what exactly happens, but it does likely get colder toward the weekend.

In the meantime.. we're in the clouds.

RK