Upstate New York - Winter Sunny or Winter Cloudy?? (Ithaca: live, military)

[TerryDactyls]

I grew up in Minnesota where the winter days were normally sunny. From the posts in the New York forum, I get the impression that the winter days are usually cloudy. True or False?

[CBaillo]

my first winter here, from what everybody was saying, i was expecting not to see the sun for 6 months. that really isnt the case. sure there are times when the clouds are thick for days on end...BUT i saw the sun and sky just about the same amount of days. There may be clouds in the sky, but a lot of times theyre broken up, and sometimes no clouds at all...just like any weather pattern.

[jupitersleeps]

I've lived in New Paltz (which is upstate for anyone from the city but is really only mid-state) for seven years...I vote cloudy, but with the weather getting stranger all the time, don't be surprised if you get more sun than you'd expect.

[plattsburgher]

Think we get more sun that quite a few of the other locations in New York. That was the reasoning a meteorologist friend of ours gave for the Air Force locating one of the largest air bases up here for years. If the weather socked in any of the coastal bases or there were storms along Pease or McGuire the tankers would be sent here.............Also if hurricanes were predicted just to protect all the planes (fighters and tankers), they would be flown in here. I do remember days when all sorts of planes would fly in for a few days......even the huge C-5s and the Medivac plane. Quite the sight to see the assortment of military aircraft parked on that huge runway for days and also when the military gave the all clear signal, it sounded like O'Hare in that all the planes were supposed to get back to their bases asap.........Around 8 to 9 am, you would get the assortment pack of planes taking off for other bases again................
However, just 5 miles across the lake in Vermont, notice that it can be sunny here and once you cross the lake at certain times, even the smallish Lake Champlain creates cloud cover over there and lake effect snows...........even though Lake Champlain is nowhere near the size of the Great Lakes with their lake effect snows and clouds, it does make a difference at certain times of the year...............weird but true! So, Pburgh does seem to be sunnier than some other spots around these parts.........

[ShockaSlim]

Its usually a pretty good mix. I prefer the non sunny days though because I HATE getting snow blinded.

[phloxy]

Upstate New York is winter cloudy. (And spring cloudy, and summer cloudy, and autumn cloudy.) At least that's my impression after nearly 10 years in the Ithaca area.

[cheese9988]

Its usually cloudy. You get sun a 2-3 days a week. This winter has been wierd though, I don't think there was alot of snow in Feb and it has been sunny most of the time.

[Annette99]

I grew up in west central Minnesota and have been in upstate NY for 25 years. I don't rememberr that many sunny winter days in Minn. The last time I spent a winter there was in 1992 when my mother was dying and it snowed everyday. We did live between 2 lakes, maybe lake effect?

[PalmBch]

Upstate New York has more cloudy days than sunshine during winter.
But there are still many days with sunshine. (Not cloudy every single day!)

[PalmBch]

Originally Posted by TerryDactyls

I grew up in Minnesota where the winter days were normally sunny. From the posts in the New York forum, I get the impression that the winter days are usually cloudy. True or False?

Minnesota usually gets 1-3 sunshine days/week during winter.