Cloudiest fall here in more than 15 years

If you’ve sensed this autumn has been a bit gloomier than normal, you’re right. Not only has precipitation been twice normal, Chicago has seen less than half (49%) of its possible October sunshine—far less than the 58% considered normal. September wasn’t any better. Only 51% of possible sunshine occurred, 11% below normal. Together, September and October have been Chicago’s cloudiest in 15 years.
Wednesday’s weather varied widely across the nation. While Florida’s Daytona Beach and West Palm Beach established new records of 90°, sections of Wyoming shivered with single -digit morning lows. Readings dipped to 2° at Laramie and 3° at Rawlins under fresh snow cover. Northern Nebraska and southeast South Dakota were also blanketed by early season snow.
Thundery downpours re-erupted on the Gulf Coast Wednesday. By evening, Doppler radar rain estimates reached 6-8” in parts of south Texas and Louisiana.
--By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist