Partly Cloudy

Week of February 15, 2026 – February 21, 2026

by Amelia Gross, Environmental Educator

Every time I’m congested, struggling to breathe out of my nose, and wondering how many more tissues I can possibly go through, I tell myself the same lie: “When I’m done being sick, I will appreciate my normal breathing more.” This lasts for a day or two at most, before I forget I was ever sick and continue to take breathing out of my nose for granted.

This is a pattern I am all too familiar with this winter, which has felt like an endless cycle of colds, both having them and facing it outside. With day after day of cloudy weather, several feet of snow, and eight straight days of temperatures below 20 degrees, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would ever see the sun again. I found myself making another promise: this time vowing to better appreciate the sun when spring hits. 

As it turns out I didn’t need to wait until spring, and while driving to work last week the sun was so bright it required dusting off my nearly forgotten sunglasses. Walking into the Interpretive Center with the sun’s rays hitting my face, it was time to solidify my promise and enjoy the sun – especially since it is so rare in the Syracuse area.

Thanks to data from NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI), I found that throughout the year we typically have only 63 days that are classified as “clear” here in Syracuse. For the remaining 303 days, we are left with somewhere between 40-100% cloud coverage. This puts us on a similar level to cities in Alaska (Anchorage gets only 2 less clear days than we do),  and a long way off from cities like Phoenix, AZ, which spend 211 days with clear skies, (that makes our 98 days with “party cloudy” skies sound pretty great to me, with their windows of clear blue skies!)

Unsurprisingly, in January and February (our coldest months of the year) we see only about a ⅓ of the possible sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth in our area. Measured by comparing the amount of time between sunrise and sunset to the actual recorded sunlight, this set of data contextualizes what those cloudy and partly cloudy days look like. But don’t worry, the amount of sunlight we see is inching up, and in the coming months we will once more be able to feel the sun more than half of the time! 

Until then, I am glad to be reminded to take an extra moment and appreciate the sun when it does find a way to break through a thick wall of clouds. It happens more than I thought! Of course, it is also never too early to start making plans for the sunnier (and hopefully less congested) days ahead when I plan to spend all of my clear (and partly clear!) days outside, exploring with kids during field trips and camp, and of course, on the trails.

We invite our members to enjoy a weekly blog written by our naturalists. Every blog will be uniquely different but always inspired by nature. We may share a memory from a recent hike at The Woods or teach you about an animal or plant that lives on the preserve. No matter the topic, we will be sharing with you our passion for nature and celebrating the connections we all have to the natural world. Each blog will be connected to a weekly set of activities and ideas to help you put nature in your hands, even if you’re at home!