Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Further corrections - the number given for Ch'ch was also wildly inaccurate. The correct total is 46, not 85!. 6 of these occurred in a row in late May, when there was a major rain event in the east of the SI.
While I live in a climate with sunny summers and cloudy winters, I'm quite familiar with humid subtropical and tropical climates where summer is dramatically wetter and cloudier than winter. One thing I notice about certain temperate climates, say the Midwestern US, is even if summer gets twice or three times as much precipitation was winter, winter is often just as or more cloudy. Climates such as Beijing or Sydney, however, actually have similar sunshine hours in both winter and summer even factoring in daylight length. In actual fact, Sydney's summers are nearly twice as cloudy as their winters (I know first hand how sunny their winters can be, clear skies for weeks isn't uncommon). Although early winter is pretty gloomy in Sydney (June is actually their wettest month) and the coast until say, Port Macquarie, is no means like further north.
Climates like England or Southland or coastal Otago tend to experience gloomy, changeable weather any time of year, with stable weather not a sure thing anytime of year.
Hmm.
It would be interesting to compare how winter vs summer sun varies around the world. Didn't last much before the thread devolved into talking about very specific sunshine numbers. Seems to happen rather often. Hope I can get it back!
I noticed that upstate NY has much cloudier winters than by the coast, even though it has less precipitation, which always seemed odd to me.
It would be interesting to compare how winter vs summer sun varies around the world. Didn't last much before the thread devolved into talking about very specific sunshine numbers. Seems to happen rather often. Hope I can get it back!
I noticed that upstate NY has much cloudier winters than by the coast, even though it has less precipitation, which always seemed odd to me.
I would assume there's a number of factors involved, but perhaps the Great Lakes play a role? In any case, I love visiting Upstate New York during all seasons. Almost guarenteed cloudiness at least some of the days while up there.
Down here there is no lack of sunshine during the winter.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,107,174 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
Hmm.
It would be interesting to compare how winter vs summer sun varies around the world. Didn't last much before the thread devolved into talking about very specific sunshine numbers. Seems to happen rather often. Hope I can get it back!
I noticed that upstate NY has much cloudier winters than by the coast, even though it has less precipitation, which always seemed odd to me.
Yes I believe it's to do with the Great Lakes, and it is interesting how you get cloudier as you move inland from the Atlantic. Cloudy climates with low precipitation are pretty common at higher latitudes, London gets half the rainfall of NYC but about half the sunshine as well.
True, the Do climate zone in New Zealand seems to get more hours of sunshine that the Do climate zone in the coastal zone of western Canada and the the Northwestern USA. I do realize that much of the precipation (much like the PNW region here in the USA) is influenced by topo. From what it looks like the drier areas in NZ tend to be on the eastern seaboard...while the western side (facing Australia/Tas) seems to be the wetter side.
My point was more that the gentics of most Do climates zones tend to make them locations where high pressure and often dry conditions are not quite so common. Based on some of the posts I've read... many locations get more than 2000 hours of sunshine annually in NZ. Keep in mind here in the Eastern USA people rag that cities like NYC (2700 hours of sunshine annually) or Sumter, SC (3000 hrs of sunshine annually) are "cloudy" compared to the Southwestern USA (Yuma, Phoenix, Tucson...etc) which get closer to 4000 hours of sunshine annually. So much of this is persepective.
I do see your point, though, much of Do New Zealand seems to get many more hrs of sunshine than is typical for other Do zones.
The States are spoilt for choice as far as Climate/sunshine goes. I don't think 4000hrs would be to my liking, but 2700hrs sounds almost perfect to me. Watching TV as a kid , America always seemed so sunny, eg Bonanza, Gentle Ben or the Waltons (Gilligans Island was in an unknown location, so doesn't count).
I had a winter in the PNW and BC in the 80s. The cloud and drizzle got old pretty quickly, but the oppressive feel of what seemed like a uniformly grey heavy sky is what struck me as the biggest difference to NZ. High pressure systems are a big feature of the NZ climate, just not stationary ones, so most months see a good mixture of everything. I would think we see a new high "migrate " from Aussie every 2 weeks or so. I don't know common this is worldwide,
NZ is possibly at the top of the cool maritime hierarchy (I'm not sure what northern Portugal is classified as) so any points of difference are more significant than they would be in warmer, sunnier climates.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,107,174 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stoney63
The States are spoilt for choice as far as Climate/sunshine goes. I don't think 4000hrs would be to my liking, but 2700hrs sounds almost perfect to me. Watching TV as a kid , America always seemed so sunny, eg Bonanza, Gentle Ben or the Waltons (Gilligans Island was in an unknown location, so doesn't count).
I had a winter in the PNW and BC in the 80s. The cloud and drizzle got old pretty quickly, but the oppressive feel of what seemed like a uniformly grey heavy sky is what struck me as the biggest difference to NZ. High pressure systems are a big feature of the NZ climate, just not stationary ones, so most months see a good mixture of everything. I would think we see a new high "migrate " from Aussie every 2 weeks or so. I don't know common this is worldwide,
NZ is possibly at the top of the cool maritime hierarchy (I'm not sure what northern Portugal is classified as) so any points of difference are more significant than they would be in warmer, sunnier climates.
Haha, I had the exact same thoughts! Then I learned that even shows like Seinfield are filmed in LA, a place with 3200 hours which makes even Perth appear sort of cloudy.
I've often said by world standards the US is indeed a sunny place, and the stats seem to back that up. Even an average eastern or southern city gets 2600-2800 hours, higher than most Australian capitals (thought of by people as a 'sunny' country; yes by area, but most populated parts of Oz aren't all that sunny really).
What do you mean Nz is at the 'top' of the cool maritime heirarchy?
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,107,174 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by RWood
Sort of cloudy? Perth Aero area is certainly in the 3200 club, and less haze around than for LA in general I would say.
I don't really use the Perth Aero Site, since it's only been recording since 1992, and anyone here knows the past 18 years have been the sunniest on record by far. The city site has records going back over 100 years, and it's average is 7.9 hours a day, translating to 2883 hours a year. According to NOAA Los Angeles has something like 160 clear days, we have about 130 on average, we have about 106 cloudy days (pretty low for our 120 raindays) and LA something like 90.
I don't really use the Perth Aero Site, since it's only been recording since 1992, and anyone here knows the past 18 years have been the sunniest on record by far. The city site has records going back over 100 years, and it's average is 7.9 hours a day, translating to 2883 hours a year. According to NOAA Los Angeles has something like 160 clear days, we have about 130 on average, we have about 106 cloudy days (pretty low for our 120 raindays) and LA something like 90.
That may be so, but with the decline in rainfall over recent decades there's no particular reason to suspect that Perth will "revert" at present. I'd wager that the 30-year period following 1990 will show a value near 3200 for Perth. I also question how rigorous a notion of "clear" is being used in the case of LA (for example). A NZ weather columnist did some travelling around the southwest of the US in the last northern autumn and was not impressed by the clarity of the skies - don't know if that was unusual.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
