First Alert Weather In-Depth: November cloud cover

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — If you have lived in Rochester for any length of time you know when we get to this time of the year, we are talking about cloud cover and a lot of it.

A lot of this has to do with a difference in the temperature of the water compared to the very cold air aloft. That cloud cover has a tendency to hang in there this time of the year.

A representation of the number of clouds over the last 13 days shows us going from sunny to cloudy, and each and every day, 12 out of 13 days, we had mostly cloudy to cloudy skies.

Now we do have some better news because we think some of the cloud cover is going to start to break up. In fact, it is already starting to do so and we are expecting some sunshine as we go through Wednesday.

But it is interesting how the amount of cloud cover can play a really important role in terms of the low temperature during the nighttime hours. At night the heat escapes right back into space. But if you have a cloud cover, that acts as a blanket on the atmosphere. It traps a lot of that heat that we do get during the day. As a result, the temperature does not drop as much. but as we go through tonight, we are going to find mainly clear skies. There is going to be no blanket on the atmosphere. So the temperature is going to drop significantly. The temperature is going to be some 10 to 15 degrees colder compared to a night where we do have some of that cloud cover. If we take this into the next 24 hours we can also expect a lot of sunshine through tomorrow.

What about Thanksgiving day? We might as well look ahead. Unfortunately, it looks like some of these clouds are going to return to Western New York. We can even expect a couple of rain showers, but at least the temperatures going to be mild with a reading near 50 degrees.

We want to take this time to wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving.