At this time of year the moon's path appears to be inclined with respect to the local horizon at a relatively shallow angle. As a result, the moon rises by only about a half hour later each night for several nights running - less than at any other time of the year. If you have cloud free skies, step outside and take a look at the bright and nearly full moon rising in the eastern skies within minutes of local sunset for the next several nights. Today's afternoon high temperature may be 5 degrees warmer than that experienced on yesterday afternoon, or tomorrow morning's low temperature is expected to be 15 degrees colder than what was recorded this morning. Some places in the country are experienced falling temperatures across the northern Plains as a storm system affects the temperature patterns across the region.
Many factors are at work in determining the near-surface air temperature at a given place and time.
The daily variation in temperature is driven by the daylight and darkness cycle in solar radiation. Under clear skies, the day's maximum temperature typically occurs within an hour or two after local solar noon. Local noon is that time when the sun at most locations would be directly to the south of you and is at its highest point in the sky for that day. Clear skies will usually cause the daily minimum temperature to occur within an hour of local sunrise. If all other factors were equal, changes in the daily temperature pattern from one day to the next would be small because day to day changes in the incoming solar radiation typically are not large.