Iowa Environmental Mesonet

Iowa State University Department of Agronomy

Climodat reports are a great source of Iowa climate data
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Cloudiness

04 Nov 2002 06:38 AM
Shown is an AWOS station plot valid for 6 AM this morning. The circle in the middle indicates cloud coverage fraction. Notice the temperatures at stations that are cloudy compared with stations that aren't. Clouds act as a longwave radiation blanket at night keeping the surface warmer than non-cloudy areas.