Does Africa Get More Sun than Other Continents? (people)
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Thanks for expanding on my post, for example the first time I saw snow was when I lived in The Netherlands. Before that the coldest temps I felt in Nigeria was 65 degrees maybe and that was when cold rain(Every time it rains it is comparable to a small tropical storm, I didn't know what a drizzle was until I left Nigeria) came down.
Were did you live in Nigeria? Was it rather sunny or rather cloudy when you were over there? How hot was it usually? I just know it is among the hottest countries in the world basing on annual mean temperatures but I'd like to get the feeling of a person who lived in Nigeria.
I lived and was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Although Nigeria has high mean temperatures and on average it is between 75 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of "season". For example were I lived it barely got over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and Houston (were I live now) during the summer is actually a lot hotter than Southern Nigeria. For example the city of Lagos has never reached 100 degrees in its history and the highest recorded temp is 99 degrees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos -look under climate. Humidity is what makes the temperature feel over 100. In Nigeria it can feel hot due to human factors but unless you in the northern part of the country 100 is a very rare number, I will say In Nigeria everything is measured in Celsius, so 100 is basically impossible.
I lived and was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Although Nigeria has high mean temperatures and on average it is between 75 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of "season". For example were I lived it barely got over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and Houston (were I live now) during the summer is actually a lot hotter than Southern Nigeria. For example the city of Lagos has never reached 100 degrees in its history and the highest recorded temp is 99 degrees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos -look under climate. Humidity is what makes the temperature feel over 100. In Nigeria it can feel hot due to human factors but unless you in the northern part of the country 100 is a very rare number, I will say In Nigeria everything is measured in Celsius, so 100 is basically impossible.
Interesting information. So, you were living in a coastal city, that's why the heat was that damp and that uncomfortable. I don't think I could handle a such consistently hot, humid climate all year long, though I could easily if it was sunny and dry!
Do you prefer hot, humid or hot, dry climates? Do you agree with me on the fact that Africa is the sunniest continent in the world? In my opinion, it must be and don't forget all the sunniest spots on the planet in summer/in winter/year-round are found over Africa! NASA global cloud cover map seems to prove that it's true, too!
I went to Phoenix once and I hated it (weather-wise) so i'm going to say humid, and I don't real like desert climates or similar(The Sahel), (Mongol Steppe). I have mostly been in humid cities and I think Australia might be sunnier than Africa but not sure. Africa also has multiple deserts were rain is impossible to find, but Port Harcourt is a jungle-like swampy area.
I went to Phoenix once and I hated it (weather-wise) so i'm going to say humid, and I don't real like desert climates or similar(The Sahel), (Mongol Steppe). I have mostly been in humid cities and I think Australia might be sunnier than Africa but not sure. Africa also has multiple deserts were rain is impossible to find, but Port Harcourt is a jungle-like swampy area.
Did you go to Phoenix during summer? If it's the case, that's understandable because it's hot!
I really like arid climates because of the continuous sunshine and clear skies, and the great summer heat is rather a good thing to me but only if the air is dry.
As you correctly said, Africa has the advantage to have many vast rainless desert tracts over its full area ; deserts actually cover about two-fifths of Africa's total land area while only one fifth of the continent is rain forest. The remaining two-fifths are grassland and/or savanna.
Arid regions in Australia are nowhere near as dry and sunny as those of Africa. The lowest annual mean rainfall amount in Australia is about 101 mm, whereas it easily drops to below 1 mm in Africa.
The eastern Sahara receives about 4,300 h of bright sunshine a year, much more than the sunniest spots of Australia which only get into 3,600/3,800 h.
Yeah, I did and I won't really say I visited the city but I went around for basically a day trip as we were going a flight towards Hawaii. Maybe Africa is the warmest continent overall. BTW Port Harcourt just like Houston is only a coastal city in name because of how swamplike it is, most of the city is away from the water and in between the area were the swamps give way to a savanna like area with small forests everywhere. Non of the residential neighborhood are actually within 3 miles of the water besides a river mouth. Port Harcourt is near the end of a large delta similar to the Nile so it makes it seem like it is coastal when it is quite far inland.
Africa is really the continent of climate extremes! It has the sunniest, driest regions in the world but also gets some of the cloudiest, rainiest areas on the planet.
However, Africa is predominantly, without any doubt, a hot, sunny, dry continent.
This is somewhat a bit paradoxical because nearly each time I see pictures of landscapes in Africa of many countries on the web or at the TV, the sky is grey and overcast!
I'm under the impression that most of people take pictures of Africa during the bad weather/rainy season on purpose while a great part of these areas are usually sunny!
The Sahara is dominated by the sun of course. What makes the Sahara so significant is its immense size. I have read that it is larger than the United States. Have also read that most maps make Africa look much smaller than it really is.
On another note...there is no way that Africa receives more sun than Asia. Unless you are looking at sun hours/unit of measurement (such as acre). Russia alone may be about as large as Africa.
The title does not tell us what exactly is being measured. Gross sunshine on a continent? Or sunshine hours/intensity per square mile?
Another consideration is that traditional solar panels lose effectiveness when they get hot.
Thanks for that map....very interesting. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are extremely sunny.....as pictures always seem to depict.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tpactionreplay
I reasonably think that Africa is globally a very sunny continent, having extended portions of its land mass within the subtropical and tropical belts where subsidence prevails.
According to the 13 years of average cloud cover done in a full world map by NASA, Africa is the sunniest continent on the planet, along with Australia.
This is an interesting note to show that clear skies are common throughout Africa, even beyond the Sahara, which stands up as the most cloud-free large region on Earth.
The only cloudy parts of the continent are definitely the lush equatorial areas covered by rainforests including countries such as Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, for example, where the great cloudiness considerably reduces the annual sunshine duration.
So yes, not only Africa receives many more hours of bright sunshine than any large continent in the world, but the intensity of solar radiation is also very high due to the low latitude.
Both factors combined make Africa a very suitable place to install solar power stations, virtually anywhere.
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