Sun-filled skies returned Tuesday following nearly a two week stretch of cloudy days

Grey skies are fairly common during the Winter months and these last two weeks have been no exception. Since December 28th skies have been nearly 100% cloud filled in northern Illinois! December 26th was the last time Rockford experienced a mostly sunny sky. For the first time, in what seemed like forever, the sun was bright Tuesday afternoon warming temperatures into the low to mid 30s.

Skies will remain clear through the evening but increasing moisture moving in across the High Plains and Midwest will allow a little more cloud cover to spill into the Stateline later this evening and overnight. While the snow melt Tuesday wasn't significant it was just enough to add a little more moisture into the lowest levels of the atmosphere (right down near the surface). This could lead to fog development during the overnight, and depending on how breezy winds remain the fog could become locally dense by daybreak Wednesday.

While the sun-filled skies were great, it was even better to be able to watch the setting sun Tuesday evening - with light still on the horizon at 5pm! You likely have noticed daylight holding on a little longer in the evenings the last week or so, even through the cloudy skies. The sun set Tuesday evening at 4:46pm and will set Wednesday night at 4:48pm. Fast forward to the end of the month and the sun will set at 5:10pm, while the sun will rise at 7:10am. This means we gain just under 40 minutes of additional daylight between now and the end of the month! Hopefully you were able to take advantage of the sunshine Tuesday because it looks like the clouds will stick around through the weekend.