Sunny Days in Pittsburgh: 145 (Not 59) (Penn, Sylvania: home, to buy, school)

[gallacus]

I love our variety here too. I think the thing that most people overlook is the greenery the rain affords us here. Not to sound like I am the king of Pittsburgh statistics or anything, but if I am not mistaken Pittsburgh has more trees within city-limits than any other city in the country.

And I do think most cities in the Northeast share our weather. My brother in Manhattan gets our weather about a day later, and I have friends in D.C. that seem to get exactly the same weather as they do. Not to mention the cities in Ohio that get it before us.

I do agree with Gerbil though, I really don't see what the big deal is with weather. I am an outdoorsy person, and really theres not much that I can't do year around in Pittsburgh except maybe swim or sunbathe. You can still kayak, mountain bike, run, hike, fish, etc. all year round here, and in the winter when you take away swimming and sunbathing, you add things like skiing and snowshoeing.

[claremarie]

The rain is great for the greenery, but it spoils lots of picnic/golf/pool/tennis/Kennywood summer plans.
We visit Pittsburgh most summers to see family, but have yet to get the kids to Kennywood, because it always rains the day we planned to go.

Most Northeast cities get more sunshine than Pittsburgh does, and the summer temperatures tend to be higher. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it happens to be the truth. The National Weather Service statistics will confirm it.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by gallacus

I love our variety here too. I think the thing that most people overlook is the greenery the rain affords us here. Not to sound like I am the king of Pittsburgh statistics or anything, but if I am not mistaken Pittsburgh has more trees within city-limits than any other city in the country.

And I do think most cities in the Northeast share our weather. My brother in Manhattan gets our weather about a day later, and I have friends in D.C. that seem to get exactly the same weather as they do. Not to mention the cities in Ohio that get it before us.

I do agree with Gerbil though, I really don't see what the big deal is with weather. I am an outdoorsy person, and really theres not much that I can't do year around in Pittsburgh except maybe swim or sunbathe. You can still kayak, mountain bike, run, hike, fish, etc. all year round here, and in the winter when you take away swimming and sunbathing, you add things like skiing and snowshoeing.

My brother in Pittsburgh says he often gets our weather in Colorado three days later, e.g. snow, a cold front, etc. However, the way the weather is expressed is different in every part of the country. And sometimes the snow peters out before it gets to Pittsburgh. US weather is comprised of many different systems, not just a west to east flow. I do not think DC has exactly the same weather as Pittsburgh, in fact, I know it doesn't. claremarie is right, it rains a lot in Pittsburgh. Re: skiing and snowshoeing, I do not remember there being enough snow on the ground most of the time to do those activities. I know they make snow at the ski resorts, but I am thinking more of cross-country. And yes, I have been there in the winter recently!

Re: the tree statistic - I doubt it. Portland and Seattle have a lot of trees too!

[Gerbil]

I have often heard that Pittsburgh has the most trees per capita of any US city. Not sure where that statistic originated, but it sounds plausible.

And I am glad the temperatures here don't get any higher than they do. 90 or so is plenty hot for me.

As far as skiiing, I think the resorts tend to be in the mountains, so however much snow the city has, they probably have more.


I'll still go to Kennywood if there's a chance of rain, as long as it's not actively raining when I'm ready to leave. Because often the rain comes through for an hour and then goes away. I just get a snack or go to the arcade until it stops

[gallacus]

I have often heard that Pittsburgh has the most trees per capita of any US city.

You are correct. I looked it up and found that my original statement was somewhat incorrect. I was not able to find the city with the most total trees, but the statistic on Pittsburgh was the most trees 'per capita'. In any respect, still awesome. I am definitely a fan of trees.

[Dingler]

According to this link from the National Weather Service, the sun shines in Pittsburgh 45% of the possible hours. This makes it the 11th greyish City listed out of 100. (Seattle is 43%)

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/...pctposrank.txt

[gallacus]

Thanks for the stat Dingler. It's interesting, and I think this statistic is a much better representation of the amount of sunlight we receive here. If you consider the subject article, Brett Yasko was claiming that approximately 145 days out of 365 had sufficient sunlight (in his opinion). If you do the math, that's about 40% of the days (if you ignore the amount of hours during those days that had cloud cover, and the amount of hours of sunlight on days he didn't count) you have a number very close to 45%. That is a much better percentage than the 16% depicted by the 59 day stat. I don't think there is a better statistic to substantiate my claim that even though Pittsburgh is not the sunniest place on earth, you still get to enjoy sunshine almost half the time.

[kpoeppel]

Interestingly, Pittsburgh is sunnier than Hilo, Hawaii. Probably because Hilo is on the windward side of the island.

[arcadefire]

Originally Posted by gallacus

Thanks for the stat Dingler. It's interesting, and I think this statistic is a much better representation of the amount of sunlight we receive here. If you consider the subject article, Brett Yasko was claiming that approximately 145 days out of 365 had sufficient sunlight (in his opinion). If you do the math, that's about 40% of the days (if you ignore the amount of hours during those days that had cloud cover, and the amount of hours of sunlight on days he didn't count) you have a number very close to 45%. That is a much better percentage than the 16% depicted by the 59 day stat. I don't think there is a better statistic to substantiate my claim that even though Pittsburgh is not the sunniest place on earth, you still get to enjoy sunshine almost half the time.

Western PA is definately the cloudiest place that I have ever lived, but I only really notice it in the winter. Those days where there is no snow on the ground, but the grass is brown, the trees are leaveless and black and the sidewalks are covered with debris from the last snow plowing. And most importantly that grey/silver non moving blanket of clouds that seems to last for days on end, blanketing the area in an oppressive blanket of blah!

But soon enough a blanket of snow falls and the clouds move away. Leaving bright blue skies and a nice white covering to hide the brown grass and black bare tree limbs.

Soon enough it is green and the grey is all but forgotten.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by kpoeppel

Interestingly, Pittsburgh is sunnier than Hilo, Hawaii. Probably because Hilo is on the windward side of the island.

But where would you rather be? LOL! I love Hawaii (have been to Hilo).