Megan's Nature Nook
Nature Notes, Phenology, Photography, Fun Facts, Trips, Maybe Even a Bad Joke or Two... and More!
November is said to be the cloudiest month of the year in the Upper Midwest. Sometimes it seems to get a little dreary because of all the clouds, short days, brown grass, and fallen leaves. Because of this, November often gets a bad wrap as being a depressing month. December is also a contender for "Cloudiest Month" but maybe we overlook that fact because all the Christmas lights brighten things up? Why is November so cloudy? As we get closer to winter, main jet stream winds are heading Southward out of Canada increasing the amount of stormy weather across the northern states, thus bringing cloud cover with it. Also, the low angle of the sun this time of year makes it hard for low-level clouds and fog to evaporate or “burn off” as the day goes on. This map by Dr. Brian Brettschneider shows the cloudiest month of the year all over the U.S. Since November is supposed to be the cloudiest month in Minnesota, I wanted to keep track and see how many cloudy days Minnesota actually has in November, so I created a calendar in my Nature Journal. I wasn’t too scientific about my recordings and just mentally took note throughout the day of what the sky was looking like. I also didn’t really pay much attention to cloud cover during the night, just daylight hours when I could observe the sky. Then at the end of the day, I filled out the square for that date. It was pretty easy. I do have to admit though, I wasn’t always on top of it, and would sometimes be sitting there trying to fill out two or three days worth going, “was it sunny on my drive into work on Wednesday?” Or asking others, “was it cloudy yesterday? All day?” Some days were easy to record if they were sunny or cloudy all day, others were a little more complicated with the ever-changing weather Minnesota has to offer. It could go from sunny to snowing in a matter of minutes. Here are some closeups of a few days: Each day I recorded 4 things: 1. Date – Already marked on my calendar 2. City – Since I wasn’t always in the same city each day, (but was still in MN), I wrote the name of the city going up the right side of the box. 3. Drawing of the sky – I drew the sky in the top half of the box, sometimes with a separating line if it was different in the AM vs. PM. 4. Word Description of the sky – The bottom of the box was used to write descriptions about the drawing, slightly more detailed. At the end of the month I had my completed calendar! Here are my results: Days with Clouds: 22 Days with No Clouds: 8 (or very few passing clouds) Since December is a contender for “Cloudiest Month,” I'm going to continue my nature journaling calendar so I can compare November and December. It would also be interesting to compare the month of November year after year to see how things vary. Dr. Brian Brettschneider also has some other interesting maps comparing November and December Cloudiness. Arizona looks like the place to be in November and December if you don't like cloudy weather! Hawaii and Minnesota are surprisingly quite similar in cloudiness this time of year, so you better wait to book those plane tickets. I found it pretty interesting to keep track of what the sky was doing each day, and it was quite easy to record. Try starting a nature journaling calendar of your own by either making one, or recording your findings on a calendar you already have. You can try keeping track of the high and low temps, wind speeds, precipitation, sky cover, or anything else you find of interest! A great thing about Nature Journaling is you can do whatever you want, however you want – make it your own!
P.S. I tried to catch some fog earlier. I mist.
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