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I am from NJ and moved to CA about a year ago. One thing I miss about being back East is the sun is not strong at all. It could be in the 60s in a NJ spring day and I would not need an A/C in my car and I would not get greasy skin and I never had sweat problems in my life.
Here in the Bay Area, 65 degrees for example feels hotter outside and when you get inside a car, it's super hot in there. No matter how much research I've done online, I could never find info about that and I never knew it would be like that in real life. I still need an A/C in my car during a "cold" Bay Area winter! A/C does well during humid weather in my opinion, but A/Cs are bad when it comes to fighting off heat that is being constantly poored into your car by the sun.
Yesterday it was like 83 degrees in the Bay Area and I honestly could say it was a worse than a 80 degree day in NJ with a normal NJ humidity level. The sun is my worst enemy. The sun in CA is obviously brighter, but it feels "sharper" and burns more while humidity had a nice soft feeling to it and I think the sweat from humidity feels less nasty than the greasiness of the California sunshine, except I used to get occasional headaches from the humidity. When I lived in NJ, I always loved the first day of the summer when the humidity used to give you that amazing feeling and I loved when papers in school got damp, while with dry heat, you don't get that feeling. I used to be in marching band where I was forced to stare at the sun at times and if I was in CA doing marching band, I would have passed out by now, because the sun feels intense as hell. When I am shopping at strip malls here in CA, I have to walk as fast as I can to the next store I want to go into, because the sun is intense.
I am an Indian guy with medium brown skin and yesterday my forehead got a little darker, because I did not wear sunscreen. I only had a L'Oreal Age Perfect foundation that has SPF 50, which doesn't seem to work in it and my forehead already got a shade darker, but when I did put some mineral sunscreen of SPF 50 a couple hours later, then it did not get any darker. When I lived in NJ, going without sunscreen for just one day was fine and it would take me more than one day to get dark.
I'd rather have snow again (and maybe humidity)!
Are there places out West where the sun never feels too intense especially being in a hot car? I miss the days of NJ where it would not feel like an oven inside a hot car.
I am from NJ and moved to CA about a year ago. One thing I miss about being back East is the sun is not strong at all. It could be in the 60s in a NJ spring day and I would not need an A/C in my car and I would not get greasy skin and I never had sweat problems in my life.
Here in the Bay Area, 65 degrees for example feels hotter outside and when you get inside a car, it's super hot in there. No matter how much research I've done online, I could never find info about that and I never knew it would be like that in real life. I still need an A/C in my car during a "cold" Bay Area winter! A/C does well during humid weather in my opinion, but A/Cs are bad when it comes to fighting off heat that is being constantly poored into your car by the sun.
Yesterday it was like 83 degrees in the Bay Area and I honestly could say it was a worse than a 80 degree day in NJ with a normal NJ humidity level. The sun is my worst enemy. The sun in CA is obviously brighter, but it feels "sharper" and burns more while humidity had a nice soft feeling to it and I think the sweat from humidity feels less nasty than the greasiness of the California sunshine, except I used to get occasional headaches from the humidity. When I lived in NJ, I always loved the first day of the summer when the humidity used to give you that amazing feeling and I loved when papers in school got damp, while with dry heat, you don't get that feeling. I used to be in marching band where I was forced to stare at the sun at times and if I was in CA doing marching band, I would have passed out by now, because the sun feels intense as hell. When I am shopping at strip malls here in CA, I have to walk as fast as I can to the next store I want to go into, because the sun is intense.
I am an Indian guy with medium brown skin and yesterday my forehead got a little darker, because I did not wear sunscreen. I only had a L'Oreal Age Perfect foundation that has SPF 50, which doesn't seem to work in it and my forehead already got a shade darker, but when I did put some mineral sunscreen of SPF 50 a couple hours later, then it did not get any darker. When I lived in NJ, going without sunscreen for just one day was fine and it would take me more than one day to get dark.
I'd rather have snow again (and maybe humidity)!
Are there places out West where the sun never feels too intense especially being in a hot car? I miss the days of NJ where it would not feel like an oven inside a hot car.
I hear the sun is not very intense in a lot of areas of Washington State.
I hear the sun is not very intense in a lot of areas of Washington State.
I hope so. I visited Seattle area during a heatwave and the temperatures actually felt like what they are supposed to be. Sun was not intense at all and it felt just like NJ sunshine. The rental car we had didn't feel like an oven.
I have a hard time believing the sun out west is that significantly more intense. On cities with similar latitudes, the sun strength should be similar unless there is an extreme difference in elevation. Like say, Denver (5k+) and DC (basically sea level). Phoenix at 1k I haven't felt extreme differences in the sun from when I go to Florida in terms of brightness. Brightest place I've ever been to was an island in Greece and, as an island in the Mediterranean, is also quite humid. Bay Area and NJ are probably close in elevation, maybe negligble in difference.
It sounds like your main complaint is the lack of humidity rather than the sun. Your best bet sounds like to move back east, you clearly don't seem to like it out here. It should be noted that Seattle is much further north than New Jersey and most US cities so even NJ won't compare to it and will have more sun than Seattle.
I have a hard time believing the sun out west is that significantly more intense. On cities with similar latitudes, the sun strength should be similar unless there is an extreme difference in elevation. Like say, Denver (5k+) and DC (basically sea level). Phoenix at 1k I haven't felt extreme differences in the sun from when I go to Florida in terms of brightness. Brightest place I've ever been to was an island in Greece and, as an island in the Mediterranean, is also quite humid. Bay Area and NJ are probably close in elevation, maybe negligble in difference.
It sounds like your main complaint is the lack of humidity rather than the sun. Your best bet sounds like to move back east, you clearly don't seem to like it out here. It should be noted that Seattle is much further north than New Jersey and most US cities so even NJ won't compare to it and will have more sun than Seattle.
I've lived in Florida and Arizona and recently in Oklahoma and Texas. The sun was not near as intense in Florida and Oklahoma compared to Arizona. Texas was interesting because East Texas the sun wasn't near as bright and as it was in west Texas.
Ironically one of the brighest "suns" I ever encountered was in October in Iowa after corn harvest. Those yellow corn stalks really reflected the sun. So I'm sure the intensity of the sun on our eyes is due to many factors.
I have a hard time believing the sun out west is that significantly more intense. On cities with similar latitudes, the sun strength should be similar unless there is an extreme difference in elevation. Like say, Denver (5k+) and DC (basically sea level). Phoenix at 1k I haven't felt extreme differences in the sun from when I go to Florida in terms of brightness. Brightest place I've ever been to was an island in Greece and, as an island in the Mediterranean, is also quite humid. Bay Area and NJ are probably close in elevation, maybe negligble in difference.
It sounds like your main complaint is the lack of humidity rather than the sun. Your best bet sounds like to move back east, you clearly don't seem to like it out here. It should be noted that Seattle is much further north than New Jersey and most US cities so even NJ won't compare to it and will have more sun than Seattle.
My dream was to live in the PNW where there is no sunshine in the winter and the summer sunshine is fine, since it would not be intense. I am living in the Bay Area, because I am living with family rent free. I would not recommend living here if you are paying money to live here. The Bay Area weather is overhyped and the sun is always intense and it's like an oven living here. Also, no quality of life like you get in NJ. The Bay Area is a fun place to be though. I sometimes get fantasies about living in Pennsylvania if I were to move back to state out East again. PA is scenic and reminds of West Coast scenery and it is a fun state to live in.
I've lived in Florida and Arizona and recently in Oklahoma and Texas. The sun was not near as intense in Florida and Oklahoma compared to Arizona. Texas was interesting because East Texas the sun wasn't near as bright and as it was in west Texas.
Ironically one of the brighest "suns" I ever encountered was in October in Iowa after corn harvest. Those yellow corn stalks really reflected the sun. So I'm sure the intensity of the sun on our eyes is due to many factors.
East Texas is green and humid while West Texas is a desert. I went to San Antonio, which is a semi-arid climate and it was not bad. The dry heat was like an oven, and humid heat was mostly fine there, because it did not feel that humid and the sun was not too humid. Wouldn't live in any of the states you mentioned, because AZ is too hot and none of the other states have beautiful scenery.
I was actually surprised you mentioned Iowa. I don't understand how the Iowa sunshine can be intense, because that's the Midwest. The brightest sun I have experienced is in Italy the secondly Greece. I couldn't wait to come home to humid NJ after feeling the sun in those countries. Italy made my skin feel like the same greasiness I get in the Bay Area.
Much of what we feel as 'intense sun' and glare can be measured by the UV rating which does not necessarily correlate to the actual temperature outside.
Where I live the UV levels are extremely high and of course humidity and cloud cover have a role in the intensity of the climate...of which, we have none like the Bay Area has at least. I am at a high elevation as well, which is associated with higher UV.
UV over-exposure can actually cause a sickness in some of us and even trigger auto-immune conditions.
I am blonde/fair/blue and have to wear super sun-block, hats and avoid outdoor sports activity between 11am - 4pm when the sun UV is most intense. Sometimes I think I might have to move from my native Nevada to a more cloudy locale with less intense UV eventually as I am more sensitive as I age.
Here is a website where you can input a zip or location to find the UV ratings for your area by time of day or search average UV levels for other locations you may be more comfortable living in. The 'contour map' is very telling as well, you can get a good idea of less intense areas of the country.
East Texas is green and humid while West Texas is a desert. I went to San Antonio, which is a semi-arid climate and it was not bad. The dry heat was like an oven, and humid heat was mostly fine there, because it did not feel that humid and the sun was not too humid. Wouldn't live in any of the states you mentioned, because AZ is too hot and none of the other states have beautiful scenery.
I was actually surprised you mentioned Iowa. I don't understand how the Iowa sunshine can be intense, because that's the Midwest. The brightest sun I have experienced is in Italy the secondly Greece. I couldn't wait to come home to humid NJ after feeling the sun in those countries. Italy made my skin feel like the same greasiness I get in the Bay Area.
San Antone has a humid subtropical climate not a semi-arid one,OP.
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