Sunshine (Portland, Medford, Bend: 2014, how much, camper)

[timberledge]

City-Data's sunshine graph for Bend shows way less sunshine than the USA average throughout the year, excepting July-August when it pokes slightly above average. Curious how Bend got such a sunny reputation?? Marketing? If so, the marketeers appear to have altered reality, in this instance.

[kapetrich]

Yes, Bend does not get 300 days of sun. This topic has been discussed ad nauseam in many threads and no regular posters will agree with overblown sun statistics.

Neither does VisitBend.com which you would think would be one of the biggest perpetrators.

Sunshine:
Bend has the highest average number of sunny days in the state. Clear days average 158 days per year
with an additional 105 days that are mostly sunny. Many of the remaining days provide substantial
sunshine. Days that are totally cloudy do not often occur.

http://www.visitbend.com/General-Climate-Info.pdf

For the record, I find these statistics to be overblown too.





From where I moved, the North East, Bend is significantly sunnier.

[Snownut]

There are large threads debating this. It is often perspective..

I moved here from VA and tracked Bends weather daily in both places for a year. Bend has more sun than where I lived in VA. The year I tracked, Bend had 60 more days of sun than VA.

I am happy to see the clouds lately, lived in VA more than 47 years and never experienced the intensity or totally sunny days like summers in Bend, I think winters are similar to what I am used to and springs vary from year to year sun wise.

That said yes the marketeers do a good job of "brightening" the sun data, and some regulars here got "clouded" by the 300 days of sun propaganda.

Just curious where do you live?

[delta07]

It's definitely about perspective. I'm from Colorado and feel the sunshine claims here are overblown. But, the last few years have definitely been sunnier than the first few I experienced in Bend. For many people west of the Cascades, where the majority of Oregon's population lives, Bend is a sunny mecca. If you do a little search on the forum, you will come across the many threads about the weather, especially in relation to sunshine, in Bend. Keep in mind, these are all opinions and not scientific data. The graphs used by city-data are pretty accurate.

[timberledge]

We're from Atlanta. Really I was mostly just shocked to see the sunshine graph for Bend in City-Data. We visited in June for 8-9 days and never saw a cloud, though there was plenty of smoke. And since we're hoping to relocate to Bend in a couple of years we watch the weather trends fairly carefully. At least since May it's always been sunny. Of course, before that there was lots of cloud cover, it appeared. Anyway, it's no big thing. What is potentially big is the idea that the NW is where people should be moving due to climate change. This ran in the NY Times on Tuesday: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/sc...22RI%3A7%22%7D
Maybe all the cloud cover in the NW will slow the migration.

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by timberledge

We're from Atlanta. Really I was mostly just shocked to see the sunshine graph for Bend in City-Data. We visited in June for 8-9 days and never saw a cloud, though there was plenty of smoke. And since we're hoping to relocate to Bend in a couple of years we watch the weather trends fairly carefully. At least since May it's always been sunny. Of course, before that there was lots of cloud cover, it appeared. Anyway, it's no big thing. What is potentially big is the idea that the NW is where people should be moving due to climate change. This ran in the NY Times on Tuesday: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/sc...22RI%3A7%22%7D
Maybe all the cloud cover in the NW will slow the migration.

Great article. Sent that to a few friends the other day. One of the many long-long term factors that fed into my decision to move to the PNW region as opposed to Colorado, Utah, etc..

Maybe this winter it'd be a good idea to follow EyeonBend and track your own weather data day to day to see if Bends winters could be tolerable. I know Snownut did this last year. Maybe he can share his data with you.

The biggest change for you moving from Atalanta will be how much colder Bend is. It's an obvious observation, but the change will be very significant to you I'd imagine.

Good luck!

[Coniferian]

I also read the Times climate change article and suspect those migrating to Florida figure they won't live long enough to see it become an island. I couldn't handle the constant threat of hurricanes, however.

We've lived in Redmond nearly a year now, after spending 40 years on Colorado's front range. We've still been pleased with the number of sunny days and believe it's a good tradeoff for the heavy snow we had in the foothills west of Denver. Hopefully we're headed into another mild fall and winter here.

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by timberledge

At least since May it's always been sunny.

If you are referring to this summer in Bend then this has been the stormiest summer I have seen in 10 years. As a photographer I have really enjoyed the drama this brings to the skies.

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by timberledge

City-Data's sunshine graph for Bend shows way less sunshine than the USA average throughout the year, excepting July-August when it pokes slightly above average. Curious how Bend got such a sunny reputation?? Marketing? If so, the marketeers appear to have altered reality, in this instance.

Here's a quote from a long time Oregon forum member that relates to your question.

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Yes there are a ton of Chamber of Commerce sites that claim various places in Oregon get 300 days of sun a year. It is a flat-out lie. Nowhere in Oregon gets 300 days of sun, not even close -not even if you use the "the sun peeked out for 30 seconds" rule.

Most weather sites agree to the following number of days of sun (90% of the sky clear) or part sun (40% of the sky clear):
Portland: 144
Bend: 162
Medford: 198
Klamath Falls: 218 (haven't seen an Oregon city with more days than this)

note how wide that "part sun" definition is. But, to me, if there is an hour or two of sun/part sun, I am a happy camper. It's continuous days of overcast I don't like.

[JimH2]

Moderator cut: Link to competitive sites are not allowed.

The definition of partly cloudy days is the same as a partly sunny day (37 - 63 % cloud cover).

Glossary - NOAA's National Weather Service