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Old 06-22-2011, 07:55 AM
 
Location: Mid Atlantic USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RWood View Post
I averaged the totaLs for a lengthy list of US sites with a good geographic spread, came up with a national average of about 60% of the possible (perhaps a bit higher). Better than the world average, but you must remember Australia is mostly "outback" - most of the population lives on the somewhat cloudier fringes. The 70% of possible isohel encompasses the vast majority of Australia, so it's sunnier overall than the US.
You have a good point about the coastal fringes in Aus. That data you looked at for the US, was it 1960-1990 do you know? I just don't think the US collects sunshine data like the British Commonwealth nations where UK methodologies were adopted.
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Old 06-22-2011, 01:31 PM
 
Location: Katy, Texas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by susancruzs View Post
Not hard to understand at all, many of us have been talking about these points for years. However, it is still a major generalization to go on about Houston in the "winter"!

We haven't seen sunshine in TR for many days, this a.m. so foggy I can't see across the street! I don't like damp at all, but I don't rant and rave every day about TR having cloudy, overcast, cold weather all summer long.

It has been pointed out that I do whine sometimes, I took that comment instride did not bicker back and forth about it. Many of us have our favorite weather, I love sunshine, 70's/low 80's for summer.

Right now, not happening, do I mention it every day, beating the subject to death? Last summer was unusually warm, hot and humid (for here), I didn't care for it but do not characterize TR's summer as awful, hot and humid. It was one summer and an exception.

Houston's weather this past winter was not what happens every winter for 3 months straight (NOAA's defininition of winter)! Talking about Houston with exagerated terms in every single post, gets very old. I could come on here like SAB, go on about our 5 days of fog but so what? I look forward to the pattern breaking and in a few days, we'll have 5 days of sunshine!
I've lived in west Houston for almost 14 years, and it drops below freezing every winter, with many days in the 40s*F. Just to clarify, Houston was having a normal maybe a bit above average winter before hell broke loose in February. I am not whining, just merely stating the truth. I only enjoy April-September in Houston.
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Old 06-22-2011, 01:56 PM
 
Location: Wellington and North of South
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wavehunter007 View Post
That’s a good point, and one we should remember when we look at sunshine hours worldwide…where are the cities/stations located. It seems there is a dearth of weather stations in the most remote climates on earth.

While I think a city like Yuma is certainly intensely sunny with 4000 hrs (+/-) annually…there has to be other locations in the BWh Climates (Tropical - Subtropical Desert) with as much (or more) hrs of sunshine – but there is no station/observer around to record data. I would guess (?) that the Sahara Desert, the Kalahari, the Atacama-Peruvian, parts of interior Australia,etc have higher (maybe much higher) sunshine hrs than places like Yuma or Palm Springs. We need more stations in the remote locations to really fill in the holes.

One other interesting note:

I don’t know how up you are on “Global Dimming” (I know little/nothing myself), but keep in mind that in some regions of the earth (mostly Western countries) – the air is much cleaner with less suspended particles than it was 30 years ago (in the 60’s and 70’s) due to the environmental movement. For example, here in the USA, while the air is far from clean around LA , suspended matter/pollution is much lower than it was in the 1970’s. So it seems likely that today there could be more hrs of sunshine (and of higher intensity) reaching the surface in many areas of Europe/USA/Australia…than there was 30 years ago when many Western countries had yet to develop/enforce clear air acts. I don't know how bad pollution was in Australia was back in the 1970's (when the environmental movement started) but many areas of Australia might have less suspened matter today than 30 years ago, so there hrs/intensity of sunshine might be higher today.

Global dimming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


NOVA | Understanding Global Dimming
The US data was "through 2008", so should be up to date.

I haven't read much about global dimming, but UK sunshine averages have improved in the last 50-100 years, with pollution reduction a major factor.

Re Australia:

Australian Climate Averages - Sunshine Hours

Measurements have been taken at Dampier Salt - mean daily sunshine 10.2 hours. So it's likely some parts of NW Australia may exceed 3750 hours. The interior Atacama is very sunny, but I doubt if it would improve on that. Some references state that parts of the eastern Sahara get 97% of annual sunshine, but I haven't seen any tables.

Last edited by RWood; 06-22-2011 at 02:09 PM..
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Old 06-22-2011, 02:08 PM
 
Location: Wellington and North of South
5,069 posts, read 8,577,847 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tom77falcons View Post
You have a good point about the coastal fringes in Aus. That data you looked at for the US, was it 1960-1990 do you know? I just don't think the US collects sunshine data like the British Commonwealth nations where UK methodologies were adopted.
Not sure about the comparison between methodologies. As in the other note, the US data was current to 2008 (meant to put that comment here, got my replies muddled).
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Old 06-22-2011, 06:59 PM
 
Location: In transition
10,635 posts, read 16,649,481 times
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if I were to guess.. I think Asagi is probably complaining more about Houston cold snaps than Houston winters in general. Let's face it, compared to other places at 30 latitude, Houston's cold snaps are brutal and for someone interested in subtropical/tropical gardening it must be a major frustration that a small number of days every year can ruin an otherwise good subtropical climate.
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Old 06-22-2011, 07:22 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Asagi View Post
I've lived in west Houston for almost 14 years, and it drops below freezing every winter, with many days in the 40s*F. Just to clarify, Houston was having a normal maybe a bit above average winter before hell broke loose in February. I am not whining, just merely stating the truth. I only enjoy April-September in Houston.
You said you were born in Houston and now you said you've lived there for 14 years, so are you only 14 years old? if so, I'm not surprised that you like summer....
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Old 06-22-2011, 07:24 PM
 
914 posts, read 2,099,484 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deneb78 View Post
if I were to guess.. I think Asagi is probably complaining more about Houston cold snaps than Houston winters in general. Let's face it, compared to other places at 30 latitude, Houston's cold snaps are brutal and for someone interested in subtropical/tropical gardening it must be a major frustration that a small number of days every year can ruin an otherwise good subtropical climate.
Dallas and Atlanta are both subtropical and there are always at least 15 days with highs below freezing.
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Old 06-22-2011, 07:42 PM
 
Location: Buxton, England
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I've learned that some like to assert their ideas of "perfect weather" onto everyone else despite other's preferences. however these folk generally end up on my ignore list so I don't have to burn my eyes reading their utter tosh.
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Old 06-22-2011, 08:16 PM
 
Location: Katy, Texas
1,440 posts, read 2,532,403 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaul View Post
You said you were born in Houston and now you said you've lived there for 14 years, so are you only 14 years old? if so, I'm not surprised that you like summer....
I was born there, yes, but didn't live there for all of my life. Down here in Houston, the kids seem to love the rare snow that we get, partly because school is cancelled. Are you saying older people like cold weather? That explains all of the retirees in the south...

I'm not responding to you anymore, since your only motive is to convince me that cold weather is better then warm weather, which will never be possible. Have a nice time on my ignored users list.
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Old 06-22-2011, 08:16 PM
 
Location: USA East Coast
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaul View Post
Dallas and Atlanta are both subtropical and there are always at least 15 days with highs below freezing.
Just for interest sake…I thought that sounded a little high for subtropical locations so I checked the National Weather Service data:

Both Dallas and Atlanta report about 2 to 4 days a year when the daily highs are below freezing (32 F). I even checked some of the NWS suburban stations and the difference was close to the same (3 to 5 days per year). If you’re interested you can check here (the link will also get you to the NWS Dallas page)

Atlanta Monthly Occurrences/Location/Max temp below 32 F:
National Weather Service Climate

I think when you consider that both Dallas and Atlanta are on the Temperate (Df) margins of the American subtropics...you might be hard pressed to find more than a few days a year (on average) when highs fail to reach above freezing in the big Texas cities like San Antonio, Austin, Houston...etc. I didn't bother to check NWS Houston (you can just follow the link above) but I would guess that only 1 day per year or so (on average) fails to get above freezing (32 F) in Houston.
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