Does Austin really get 300 days of sunshine?

[Jaipur]

I really don't think that is right. I have read that many times but there is a difference between sunshine and overcast. I would not consider very cloudy days sunny days weather it is raining or not. Which I am sure would change that statistic by much. In fact I read that only 32% of days in Austin are considered "sunny".

[Taterhead]

Originally Posted by casualobserver

Not sure where you sourced the 300 day figure, but the NOAA average over the last 54 years is 115 "sunny" days for Austin.

Even Phoenix is just modestly over 200 days.




Sunshine Hours Page (http://www.thewellers.com/weller43/sunshine.htm - broken link)

Are you kidding me? I have lived here 12 years now and it's always sunny, not a cloud in the sky. It gets real old sometimes and we wish for a cloudy day or rain. No way does Phoenix only get 200 days of sun.

[xeric]

300 days is the Chamber of Commerce standard line for every city in the south and or west. Certainly Fort Collins has been granted that dubious statistic. It depends on how you define a "sunny" day. Weather agencies usually divide days into three categories: clear, partly cloudy, and overcast. Of course, the amount of cloud cover needed to designate a day as one of these three varies. I suspect that the boosters who coined the 300 days stat. are counting all days with any sun at all in the "sunny" category.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Derek ATX

It was 40 straight days of rain. I remember this because of the bible reference that was made on the news and weather channel. That along with a rep of LCRA that had said in the early spring of 2007 on the news before the rains started that we would need rain of "biblical proportions" for Lake Travis to fill up for the summer. Well...........I guess he was right.

June is almost here, the beginning of hurricane season. I have seen more then one tropical depression or move into central Texas when Lake Travis was dried up at its lowest levels, and the rains fill Lake Travis up to flood stage and overflowing. I have seen this happen 3 or 4 times since I have been here.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Derek ATX

It was 40 straight days of rain. I remember this because of the bible reference that was made on the news and weather channel. That along with a rep of LCRA that had said in the early spring of 2007 on the news before the rains started that we would need rain of "biblical proportions" for Lake Travis to fill up for the summer. Well...........I guess he was right.

June is almost here, the beginning of hurricane season. I have seen more then one tropical depression or storm move into central Texas when Lake Travis was dried up at its lowest levels, and the rains fill Lake Travis up to flood stage and overflowing. I have seen this happen 3 or 4 times since I moved here in 77.

One of the rare advantages when Lake Travis is low is that the best sandy beaches become accessible off the west end of Point Venture, Whispering Hollow Drive. They are below water level normally.

[gpurcell]

Austin gets a whole lot of partly cloudy/hazy days. We may not get rain, but it sure isn't blue skies here all the time.