Over the past 7 days, Grand Rapids has had just 7% of possible sunshine. Over the past 13 days, we’ve had only 16% of possible sunshine. The average amount of sunshine in October is 43%. I took the picture above Sunday PM in Alpine Township, looking to the southwest. There are two layers of clouds, a scattered lower layer of stratocumulus and above that, a solid layer of cirrostratus. The cirrostratus layer was thin enough to allow a little dim sunshine to come through. The cirrostratus layer stopped close to the horizon, where the sky is brighter.

From Oct. 5-15 we had measurable rain on 10 out of 11 days – a total of 3.57″. That’s 1.5″ above average for the month so far.

We started the month with 5 days warmer than average. That has been followed by 11 consecutive days that have been cooler than average. Oddly, the month is running 1.3 degrees warmer than average. That’s because the 5 warm days were a whopping 14 degrees warmer than average and that more than balances out the 11 days that have been 4 degrees cooler than average.

We still have not had a frost over much of West Michigan. Part of the reason for that is the cloudy skies we’ve had. Clouds act like a blanket and often keep you warmer at night than you would be if there was a clear sky.