Much of Iowa has been struggling to see the sun these past few days and so temperatures have been struggling as well. When the sun is seen, the ground is typically experiencing the potential maximum amount of energy received for that day and time of the year. This produces heating that drives our near surface air temperatures warmer during the daylight hours. The featured chart presents one model's estimate of daily maximum shortwave solar radiation received at the surface and what actually happened this year. You can consider the tan area showing up until today as the effect of clouds. The last two bars in the chart show the minimal amount of solar radiation experienced by Ames for the past two days. An increase in sunshine is expected today, which will help warm temperatures out of the 40s and 50s we've been stuck in.

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Tags:   radiation