Originally posted by tonyzoc ..I'm scanning with an Epson V600...
For those weather conditions that day and assuming you produced a well developed negative, I'd say if you can see good definition of the clouds on the negative using a light table, then you are not capturing the 'working' tonal dynamic range of the negative from scanning. A 48-Bit color or 16-bit BW workflow is an excellent start to capturing more tonal scale on your negatives, IMHO.
We basically had 5 grades of fixed-grade paper to print a slightly over/under exposed negative to get it in a good, general viewing contrast. I'd say scanning has the capability to capture all five paper grades if not more.