Gloomiest major cities in the world (climate, precipitation, Canada, most)

[Proterra]

I guess the top-10 would look something like this. My definition of major city which I use is a metro over 500K, although this list might be light on Chinese cities, as I have absolutely no clue on each city in China between say 500K and 2M metro population... Anyone else some suggestions? I'm quite sure there are some cities out there that should be on this list, as the gap in China between Chengdu (2) and Xi'an (3) is quite large...

In italics are places which are major regional centres for their region, but don't make the 500K cutoff for metro population to have them ranked.

1) Chongqing, 1055 hours
2) Chengdu, 1073 hours
*) Derry, 1179 hours
*) Bergen, 1180 hours
3) Glasgow, 1239 hours
*) Tromso, 1265 hours
*) Reykjavik, 1268 hours
4) Belfast, 1313 hours
*) York, 1316 hours
*) Trondheim, 1346 hours
5) Bielsko-Biała, 1377 hours
*) Paderborn, 1387 hours
6) Manchester, 1394 hours
*) Aberdeen, 1409 hours
7) Edinburgh, 1411 hours
*) Cork, 1423 hours
8) Liverpool, 1442 hours
9) Essen, 1459 hours
10) Kraków, 1469 hours


Honourable mentions: (Dunedin, and major capitals and world cities with less than 1700 hours sunshine)

-Dublin; 1477 hours
-Copenhagen; 1539 hours
-Brussels; 1546 hours
-Hamburg; 1560 hours
-Warsaw; 1570 hours
-Dunedin; 1585 hours
-London; 1600 hours
-Gdańsk; 1610 hours
-Xi'an; 1616 hours
-Berlin; 1625 hours
-Paris; 1630 hours
-Amsterdam; 1662 hours
-Prague; 1668 hours

[ben86]

Bradford = 1228 hours (71-00 data), though it only has about 300,000 people (city only - whatever number you find for the 'metro area' (we don't really use that term over here) will put it over 500,000 though).

Is Bielsko-Biala really that bad?! I lived there and considered it to be quite sunny, particularly from about April onwards.

[Proterra]

One major honourable mention should be for Halle, Germany though.

1544 hours of sunshine

and:

Only 453 millimetres (17.83") of precipitation...

http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/generator/DWD...df/21_2001.pdf

[Proterra]

Originally Posted by ben86

Bradford = 1228 hours (71-00 data), though it only has about 300,000 people (city only - whatever number you find for the 'metro area' (we don't really use that term over here) will put it over 500,000 though).

Thanks. I was looking for a figure for Leeds, but couldn't find it real quick. Guessed it would be cloudier than Manchester though.

Originally Posted by ben86

Is Bielsko-Biala really that bad?! I lived there and considered it to be quite sunny, particularly from about April onwards.

Most of the year will be similar to that in England, sometimes even slightly more. Winters in Southern Poland near the mountains are analogous in terms of sunshine to those in Northern Scotland, however, with 90 minutes to 2 hours more daylight each day... This brings the figures way down...

[ben86]

Originally Posted by Proterra

One major honourable mention should be for Halle, Germany though.

1544 hours of sunshine

and:

Only 453 millimetres (17.83") of precipitation...

http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/generator/DWD...df/21_2001.pdf

Not bad. But if we're giving Halle an honourable mention then an extra extra honourable OMFG look at that!!!!!!!!!!! mention must go to Lima then:

1424 hours of sunshine

13 (yes, thirteen!) mm of precipitation

(assuming Wiki is correct of course)
Lima - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ben86]

Also there's Murmansk (300,000 people) with 1291 hours and Taipei (6.9m) with 1405 hours.

[Proterra]

1) Chongqing, 1055 hours
2) Chengdu, 1073 hours
*) Derry, 1179 hours
*) Bergen, 1180 hours
3) Leeds-Bradford, 1228 hours
4) Glasgow, 1239 hours
*) Tromso, 1265 hours
*) Reykjavik, 1268 hours
*) Murmansk, 1291 hours
5) Belfast, 1313 hours
*) York, 1316 hours
*) Trondheim, 1346 hours
6) Bielsko-Biała, 1377 hours
*) Paderborn, 1387 hours
7) Manchester, 1394 hours
8) Taipei, 1405 hours
*) Aberdeen, 1409 hours
9) Edinburgh, 1411 hours
*) Cork, 1423 hours
10) Lima, 1424 hours

Essen, Liverpool and Kraków are bumped out of the top-10 in this update.

Originally Posted by ben86

Not bad. But if we're giving Halle an honourable mention then an extra extra honourable OMFG look at that!!!!!!!!!!! mention must go to Lima then:

1424 hours of sunshine

13 (yes, thirteen!) mm of precipitation

(assuming Wiki is correct of course)
Lima - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lima is certainly more impressive, but it doesn't have a marine west coast climate. Thinking of this, I'm going to look up Walvis Bay, Namibia now... Expect something similar there...

Edit: Nevermind. Walvis Bay is more similar to Arica with 2630 hours...

[ben86]

Originally Posted by Proterra

1) Chongqing, 1055 hours
2) Chengdu, 1073 hours
*) Derry, 1179 hours
*) Bergen, 1180 hours
3) Leeds-Bradford, 1228 hours
4) Glasgow, 1239 hours
*) Tromso, 1265 hours
*) Reykjavik, 1268 hours
*) Murmansk, 1291 hours
5) Belfast, 1313 hours
*) York, 1316 hours
*) Trondheim, 1346 hours
6) Bielsko-Biała, 1377 hours
*) Paderborn, 1387 hours
7) Manchester, 1394 hours
8) Taipei, 1405 hours
*) Aberdeen, 1409 hours
9) Edinburgh, 1411 hours
*) Cork, 1423 hours
10) Lima, 1424 hours

Essen, Liverpool and Kraków are bumped out of the top-10 in this update.



Lima is certainly more impressive, but it doesn't have a marine west coast climate. Thinking of this, I'm going to look up Walvis Bay, Namibia now... Expect something similar there...

Edit: Nevermind. Walvis Bay is more similar to Arica with 2630 hours...

A little bit pedantic perhaps but although Leeds and Bradford are physically in the same urban area I've never heard them referred to as 'Leeds-Bradford' apart from the name of the airport - they are considered two different cities. Bradford would be gloomier due to local topography - I don't know of any official Leeds figure but I'd reckon it's around 1300 hours.

[dunno what to put here]

Actually there is an urban area listed for statistical purposes called Leeds-Bradford. Bradford will definitely be cloudier than Leeds, I can't imagine sunshine hours in Leeds being much different from Manchester - but there's no data for Leeds so Bradford will have to do.

[nei]

Atlantic Canada (especially Newfoundland) would make the list if it were populated. Most of the other northern places on the list have mild winter climates, so Atlantic Canada is an interesting contrast. Cold winters + gloominess.