City/Town with the most sun

[ArcticPhoenix]

There's a reason why Yakima is called the "Palm Springs" of Washington State.

[nullgeo]

Yakima



Seattle



Sequim, WA.


Palm Springs, CA



any similarities?

Charts are fun

[soggy]

Hi there. I too, have researched the weather between Eastern WA and Western WA, as I plan to move east for more sunshine. If I am understanding the charts correctly, at least on weather.com, a "clear" day, means a day with NO clouds. A "cloudy" day, means there are clouds in the sky. That could be one, or complete overcast. I think the data is misleading, because as a previous post noted, there may be some clouds in the sky in eastern/central WA, but not totally covered as in the west. On the other side of the Cascade Mtns., there is DEFINATELY more sunshine!

Yakima received the least precip, Wenatchee and Moses Lake are close in line.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by soggy

Hi there. I too, have researched the weather between Eastern WA and Western WA, as I plan to move east for more sunshine. If I am understanding the charts correctly, at least on weather.com, a "clear" day, means a day with NO clouds. A "cloudy" day, means there are clouds in the sky. That could be one, or complete overcast. I think the data is misleading, because as a previous post noted, there may be some clouds in the sky in eastern/central WA, but not totally covered as in the west. On the other side of the Cascade Mtns., there is DEFINATELY more sunshine!

Yakima received the least precip, Wenatchee and Moses Lake are close in line.

One last comment on this subject ... a "cloudy day" on the charts is noted as partial sun ... look at the charts I provided above from City-Data. They show, plain as day:
Days Clear of Clouds
Partly Cloudy Days
Cloudy Days
Days With Precipitation
The charts are excellent graphics based on sunshine measurements. A reader may not believe the statistics, of course. Believe what you will. The NW is lovely. It is NOT one of the sunny parts of the country.

Here is one more source for those concerned with how sunny or cloudy the NW is:
HowStuffWorks "Maps of United States Annual Sunshine"
Note that the Yakima Valley is the only spot in the state that exceeds the low-mid-2000 hours annual recordings. Also note that in ALL of the City-Data sunshine charts, including for Yakima, the sunshine hours in Washington are so strong in the summer months ONLY, that the rest of the year's hours of sun, even in Yakima, are clearly shown as very POOR. Compare to other areas of the country on the various charts. Anyone concerned with S.A.D., or simply sun-lovers, need to consider this reality.

[ochoco]

I lived in Eastern WA (Leavenworth) for 20 years and yes, that side of the Cascades does receive considerably more sun than the west side of the mountains. I now live in Sequim and while Sequim is in the rain shadow of the Olympics, it really isn't much less overcast than the rest of the west side, it's only drier.