Using clear plastic can heat the ground enough, if there is sunshine of course and of sufficent duration, to possibly kill weed seeds, pest eggs and fungal spores (as with a sterile seed bed). It is unlikely cloudy plastic will allow enough light in to do this. Incidentally Aqui, you are actually heating the air in the soil, to begin with. This is why you do not need to leave an air layer directly under the plastic. This warm air will then pass on it's accumulated heat to the soil.