Daylight, sun angle increasing throughout March

 

Michiana skies have been filled with more sunshine lately. Both our length of day and sun angle are increasing, and will continue to do so throughout the month of March and the rest of spring. 

Michiana will add close to 90 minutes of sunshine during the month of March, with earlier sunrises and later sunsets on the way. 

We can expect 12 hours of daylight on St. Patrick's Day (March 17), and cross the 13+ hour threshold on April 8.

Our sun angle is increasing as well, as the sun will appear higher in the sky at noon every day until the summer maximum of 72 degrees on June 21 (the summer solstice). Currently, Michiana's sun angle is just shy of 40 degrees.

Even with the mild temperatures and solid stretches of sunshine, we can't expect to get any vitamin D from the sun just yet. That process starts to occur when the sun angle is above 50 degrees, which will happen (for a short amount of time) after April 13. 

The first two days of March have featured at least some sunshine. Last March was one of the sunniest in recent memory, with all but three days ending up either sunny or partly sunny. Part of the reason for the abundant sunshine during March 2021 was the lack of snow. Snow on the ground is one of the driving factors behind Michiana's infamous "perma-cloud." Without it, it's tough for the overcast days to pile up as fast. 

With active weather expected (and even some snow possible next week), clouds will be a bigger part of the forecast heading into the weekend. And if we get snow to stay on the ground, Michiana can't expect to say "goodbye" to the "perma-cloud" just yet.