High cirrus cloudiness invaded the northern Illinois skies Wednesday — cutting down on the sunshine somewhat, but still allowing 625 minutes of sunlight to be recorded on the sunshine detector used by Chicago veteran weather observer Frank Wachowski. The total possible minutes of sunshine for Sept. 24 was 726 minutes, so we received 86 percent of possible sunshine. The three-day total of 100 percent Monday and Tuesday, and 86 percent Wednesday was the greatest three-day percentage since May 30-June 1, when the numbers were almost identical — 100 percent May 30-31 and 87 percent June 1.
With a jet stream far north in Canada and a nearly stationary high pressure centered just to our east, mild weather here is expected to continue right through the coming weekend and into the middle of next week. Computer models indicate that the blocking pattern now in place will show signs of beginning to break down early next week, with what looks to be our first chance of rain now holding off until next Wednesday.
