Today's Weather: Perihelion

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jan 4, 2009 3:00PM

Photo by jlurie

You wouldn't know it to step outside, but today is perihelion, the closest the Earth comes to the Sun in its orbit. People (much) smarter than us (combined) explain it a bit more here. Thanks to the Earth's axial tilt, we are not the recipients of the direct rays of sunlight right now. So while our friends south of the equator are living it up close to the Sun, we continue to deal with scenes like that above.

That said, today won't be too bad, though it will get chillier as the day wears on. The clouds that bring us a slight chance of a morning shower or flurry will break at some point and leave skies partly sunny, though temps will fall steadily throughout the day, dipping to the mid 20s by sunset (aided by brisk winds). Tonight, skies will be clear with more wind and temps in the lower teens. The good news? In spite of the fact that January is usually Chicago's coldest month of the year, it actually begins the long, steady increase of daylight. So, you see, we're obviously "glass half full" people.

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