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I think the OP is right in using the word "relatively". Yes, compared to N. Europe, NYC, Philly, DC, etc are very sunny. However, compared to many areas of the US, we're not. Talking with folks from other areas of the country, they tend to point out that they consider my area pretty cloudy. Heck, even a city like Omaha, NE is sunnier than any of the big east coast cities. We are doing a lot of work right now out in the Missouri River watershed. Talk about endless days of sunshine.
I can only imagine how truly gloomy living long term in a place like the UK must feel like to the average American or Australian.
That's pretty nice but not exactly wall-to-wall sunshine like I was expecting. It would be a feasible winter forecast for here, particularly given those mild temperatures. This is ours by comparison:
That's pretty nice but not exactly wall-to-wall sunshine like I was expecting. It would be a feasible winter forecast for here, particularly given those mild temperatures. This is ours by comparison:
He lives in a cloudy part of the Northeast US. Just kidding, lol. Two cloudy days out of nine is not shabby. Partly cloudy days here are usually 60% sun or more.
I assume fog must be very rare on the US east coast in order to permit such high sunshine totals?
In prone locations, if winds are light or calm, freezing fog/fog or low cloud is pretty much guaranteed here in england during winter, so even if high pressure is overhead, it will still often not be sunny.
That's pretty nice but not exactly wall-to-wall sunshine like I was expecting. It would be a feasible winter forecast for here, particularly given those mild temperatures. This is ours by comparison:
This is New York, not Southern California. Wall to wall stretches of sunshine or rare, especially in the winter; the weather is unstable. Fronts pass through, the ocean sends weather out, weather from many directions can cause sky cover changes. While there are some clouds, most days in the forecast have more sun than not, several almost entirely sunny. 2500 hours of sun is about 60% of possible, so that means there will be clouds. Winter is closer to 50%.
I'm wondering if partly cloudy (defined as 40-70% sunshine here, I think) might mean something different in the UK. Your forecast is horribly cloudy. Our day was rather overcast, with blowing snow, but it's likely we got more than the 2 hours of sunshine that your sunniest day got.
Also, this is not my forecast! I don't live in Midtown Manhattan, that zip code is a place with lots of offices.
I assume fog must be very rare on the US east coast in order to permit such high sunshine totals?
In prone locations, if winds are light or calm, freezing fog/fog or low cloud is pretty much guaranteed here in england during winter, so even if high pressure is overhead, it will still often not be sunny.
Long Island often gets thick thick fog in the morning November-ish. It's associated with the mildest day. I don't think the east coast has that low cloud / fog pattern you described at all.
Maybe it's due to your lower latitude. In Europe the sun is too weak to break the cloud cover and high pressure with little wind often means overcast days. We had a 1030-1035 hPa episode in December and that was gloomier than most of the storms we're getting lately. This is true for western Europe and central Europe at least. Can't speak for eastern Europe.
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In the high 30's today, gorgeous sunny day! 
