Sunny Days in Pittsburgh: 145 (Not 59) (rated, summer, fun)

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by gortonator

You threatened to report me last week!!!

Beautiful sunny evening here BTW .... delightful ride home from gym.

Not quite. I just said you were bucking for Yac, e.g. he might show up. (Just did a search)

[hinsey86]

Originally Posted by Goodjules

I would curl up and die there. Many people have told me that Florida's summers make Pittsburgh's seem cool. I have a full length down coat that I wore on SF summer evenings in July. It gets very windy and foggy there. The temperature may be in the 50s-60s, but the wind and fog make it feel much colder. I am a total wimp when it comes to heat.

Florida summers make Pittsburgh summers look like Canada in the Fall. ( I think Pittsburgh Summers are wonderful and not the least bit unpleasant but I lived in the South for years.) I may only have my air on one or two weeks here...love it. I have friends in Arizona and Florida that have had theirs on for weeks already...ugh. Of course they get to brag a bit in January.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Not quite. I just said you were bucking for Yac, e.g. he might show up. (Just did a search)

'bucking for Yac' has vague connotations that would be inappropriate for me to type here. But if you've ever heard of Enumclaw, WA, you'd probably know. I think that's worse than a reporting threat!!

[TBonzie]

Originally Posted by Goodjules

I would curl up and die there. Many people have told me that Florida's summers make Pittsburgh's seem cool. I have a full length down coat that I wore on SF summer evenings in July. It gets very windy and foggy there. The temperature may be in the 50s-60s, but the wind and fog make it feel much colder. I am a total wimp when it comes to heat.

They do. I was warned that summer up here in N.C. was hot, but it's a walk in the park compared to Fort Lauderdale and it only goes from June-mid-Sept, not mid-April to mid-October (and often hot during the other months too).

I was in Pittsburgh a few years back and it was around 83 and a little bit humid and man, were people complaining. I was like, "guys, this is warm, not even hot!" I'd have gladly taken that day in mid-August down in Florida!

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by hinsey86

Florida summers make Pittsburgh summers look like Canada in the Fall. ( I think Pittsburgh Summers are wonderful and not the least bit unpleasant but I lived in the South for years.) I may only have my air on one or two weeks here...love it. I have friends in Arizona and Florida that have had theirs on for weeks already...ugh. Of course they get to brag a bit in January.

Pittsburgh was about as extreme a climate as I could take when deciding where to live when I left SF. I told the realtor that I would only look at houses with AC. I almost turned on my AC the other day, and my house is insulated! Like I said I'm a heat wimp. I am dreading summer. Planning a vacation to SF in August because I know I'll be fed up with it by then.

[reddesertfox]

Originally Posted by gallacus

The only reason I mentioned Denver is because I used to live there, so I too have experience in both places. Couldn't agree more that Denver is more sunny, it's a desert. That's why I also said that 53% more sunshine is a lot (albeit without the caps). My main reason for posting was that there are often times people considering a move to Pittsburgh and wondering just how cloudy Pittsburgh is. While Denver is very sunny, and Pittsburgh is very cloudy, many arguments that people make over-emphasize both, which gives people an inaccurate portrayal of both places.

With these statistics on percent of possible sunshine, I personally think it paints a much clearer picture. During the height of winter, Pittsburgh receives very little direct sunshine, but from May through October Pittsburgh is sunny the majority of the time. During those months, Denver gets 16% more sunshine. Again, still a significant amount, but not crazy. Now, the winter is where the big difference is: for Pittsburgh's cloudiest months (November - April) Denver gets a whopping 89% more sunshine. That's a huge difference, and the big reason why Pittsburgh's winters are lamented by so many.

Now, that's comparing Pittsburgh to one of the sunniest locales in America (even sunnier than San Diego). When you compare Pittsburgh to San Antonio, TX, a place that falls right in the middle of the national average for sunshine, it's not quite as ridiculous. San Antonio gets 13% more sunshine than Pittsburgh in the summer, and 44% more in the winter. Take into consideration that Pittsburgh's summer days are a bit longer than San Antonio due to its southern location (about 5% longer on average) you could say then that the difference is even less during the summer, but more in the winter.

Last but not least, with Daylight Saving Time, the difference is even more pronounced for those of us with day jobs. What DST means to me in Pittsburgh is that, from the time it ends in November, to the time it begins in March, I pretty much don't see the sun. I've calculated that, when factoring in DST, daytime working hours, Pittsburgh's latitude, and percent of possible sunshine, someone living in Pittsburgh with a day job will have the opportunity to see about 23 hours of sunshine per month at the peak of the winter, but 134 hours per month at the peak of summer.

With all these fun facts, I think someone who's considering Pittsburgh can see that the summers here will afford you with plenty of sunshine, but winters will be largely devoid of it.

Denver is semi-arid and cold,not mild.Some large areas receive a great deal of rain.
Pittsburgh has so few clear days that it is not worthy of note.

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by reddesertfox

Pittsburgh has so few clear days that it is not worthy of note.

Clear days are overrated, partly cloudy rules. Deal with it!

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by reddesertfox

Denver is semi-arid and cold,not mild.Some large areas receive a great deal of rain.
Pittsburgh has so few clear days that it is not worthy of note.

Denver's winter is mild by northeastern/midwestern standards. It's similar to Pittsburgh's with ups and downs, but the ups are higher. It is not at all unusual for there to be 65 degree days in the winter months. It does get a little colder than Pittsburgh, and nights are always considerably colder than the days. There is no area around Denver that receives a large amount of rain.

[reddesertfox]

The skies over Pittsburgh are so mournful and consistently gray twelve months round,that the human psyche is savagely obliterated that leaving the area is a constant.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by reddesertfox

The skies over Pittsburgh are so mournful and consistently gray twelve months round,that the human psyche is savagely obliterated that leaving the area is a constant.

So, I'm guessing that you live in Phoenix?