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Bingo. One of the only people here that are actually smart enough to understand weather and climate beyond their city limits.
That is basically what I said - Melbourne is bad by comparison, because it is located in a sunny, hot country, so is an anomaly - it could be worse, you could be living in Glasgow - you would definitely be off your head 24/7 here (like the rest of the population).
Melbourne and Pittsburgh are like twins when it comes to cloud. 95% of my state gets between 2200 and 2500 hours of sun a year, but Pittsburgh, and literally it's only Pittsburgh and its suburbs (Allegheny County for the most part) somehow scrapes by with 1700-1800 hours a year. Pittsburgh is almost as cloudy as London and it's a tiny part of my state. Melbourne and Pittsburgh are super cloudy microclimates surrounded by hot, and sunnier, towns and cities. Pittsburgh is the cloudiest city in the continental US at 40°N, even Seattle at 47°N gets more sun
Melbourne Airport gets 2370 hours a year, but it is located 20km northwest of the city in one of its drier parts aswell. I'm sure the SE suburbs where I live are cloudier with more rainfall.
Victoria north of the Great Dividing Range gets about 2900-3000 hours of sun in the NE plains and 3100-3200 in the NW regions near the Murray River.
Some of the hilly regions near the Great Ocean Road are perhaps the cloudiest places in Victoria, this place Climate statistics for Australian locations gets 231 rain days per year, so likely a few dozen more cloudy days. Looking at the states, the 3pm average sky cover in June and July is 8/8 and annual average 9am cover is 5.7/8!!
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Originally Posted by dunno what to put here
That is basically what I said - Melbourne is bad by comparison, because it is located in a sunny, hot country, so is an anomaly - it could be worse, you could be living in Glasgow - you would definitely be off your head 24/7 here (like the rest of the population).
Yes, this is what I've been trying to convey to Mr P London! But, he seems unable to understand this simple fact for some unknown reason.
The cities in upstate NY facing Lake Ontario are as cloudier as Pittsburgh. Paris is much cloudier than any of them. I think US stats exaggerate sunshine, my official stats are 2400 hours but I think realistically it's 2200-2300 with Pittsburgh down to 2000. Check the difference between Detroit and Windsor...
I checked NOAA before, and it said Pittsburgh has 2000 hours, so realistically it was between 1700-1800
Note that Pittsburgh still averages more than 50% in many months - nowhere in the UK can claim that, as far as I'm aware.
The low sunshine % in the summer of the UK seem stranger to me than the winter %. I lived near Binghamton, NY which is almost as cloudy as Pittsburgh.
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Winter is almost at UK-levels of cloudiness though - at least you get some snow as opposed to incessant drizzle, eh?
True, but for those who don't like cold, the cold + cloud adds to the gloomy feel and both combined are worse. We got mostly snow, so we would get snow showers. Brief peeks of sun for a couple hours than clouded over and brought light snow. And of course, there would be stretches with almost no sun, clear sky stretches were rare, especially in winter.
Reminds me of a t-shirt I once saw in a Seattle clothing store:
"Seattle Rain Festival: Jan 1 to Dec 31"
LOL... I used to live in Oregon, so I totally get that joke! I also lived in San Francisco for a number of years, and the joke was that we had one season - foggy.
Now I live in San Jose, where there's a LITTLE more variation throughout the year, but still far from a classic "four seasons." Basically it goes like this:
January-March: Chilly with either continuous or periodic rain
April: Often rainy but a little warmer
May-July: Warm and dry
August-(early) October: Warm and mostly dry, with a few bursts of 90+ degree temps
(mid-late) October-December: Same as January-March, but a little colder at night (high 30s-low 40s)
Early December to late February: extremely dark and cloudy with lots of snowfall. Blizzards and cold waves battle for dominance.
Late February to late March: snow cover is at its thickest, days are longer and much sunnier. Thaws become more common in mid-March, snow slowly starts melting at daytime.
Late March to early May: meltdown. Snow melts, leaving the world dry and sterile. Nothing grows yet apart from some flowers. Days are sunny and getting quite long, nights are usually below or near freezing. Occasional blizzards may still bring snow.
Early May to mid-June: life returns. A wave of green sweeps over the landscape with grass and bushes leading the way. In mid-May, deciduous trees begin to leaf. Days are very long, twilight lasts throughout the night, weather is cool with chilly nights. This is the "California" time of year: dry conditions, lots of sunshine and moderate temperatures.
Mid-June to late August: high summer. White nights, loads of mosquitoes, mild temperatures with occasional heat waves. Summer rains arrive and end the dryness, it also gets cloudier.
Late August to late October: fall. Darkness returns, leaves change and drop. It's also gets cloudier, sunshine hours drop off fast. First freeze in September, first snow in October. Drizzle and darkness, depression city.
Late October to early December: transition from fall to winter. Leaves are gone, average temperature nears and passes the freezing point. Snow starts staying on the ground for longer periods and usually settles in by early December. This is the darkest time of year as there's little snow to light things up but daylight hours are already very short.
Well that was fun. Reading through all that, I'm pretty happy with this climate. A little bit of everything.
Last edited by Hiromant; 12-19-2012 at 10:18 AM..
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