Only 7 hours of sunshine here in 13 days

Mid-winter “warm-ups”, like the one in progress, are often cloudy affairs. This one’s been no exception. Sunshine has been observed here only two of the past 13 days. A total of just 435 minutes of sun has been observed at the Midway Airport sensors run for the National Weather Service by veteran observer Frank Wachowski—just 6% of the 7,174 minutes possible. That’s just over 7 hours of sunlight in nearly two weeks. And, Friday won’t be much different. The raw, moisture-laden air mass is likely to yield patches of drizzle or a few flurries—but little sun. An approaching warm front may dust the area with snow Friday night.
It’s been two weeks since the the area emerged from the fourth coldest December open in 136 years. Each day since has posted double-digit temperature surpluses. Nighttime lows have averaged 3° warmer than normal highs during the period.