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.
Ideally in the 2500-3000hrs range for me, but I can live with around 2,300hours if other factors are to my liking (temperatures, humidity, record lows and highs etc...)
The irony is it tends to be most cloudy when there's high pressure! When there is low pressure the wind at least tends to break up the clouds and allow for some sunny spells. Often the north sea advects low cloud and fog and if its calm it will stay dull and cloudy for a number of days.
People assumed it would be gloriously sunny and warm because of very high pressure sitting on top of us, but it's not been the case. There's been a lot of moisture trapped under this high which has resulted in more cloud. Wind direction is crucial too, NE winds will ensure low fog, or haar, will hug eastern and central England, we need SE winds that will more or less ensure clear skies for eastern, central and even western areas. Cloud breaks have been totally random too, it's been rather sunny in NE England but very cloudy in parts of the Midlands where fog has been an issue.
The thread between Boston and Dublin got me thinking about annual sun hrs in Europe.
I’m sure there are a lot of differences between what people in different parts of the world are used to in terms of sunshine – so sun hrs are somewhat relative; People who live in a climate like Athens, Miami, Los Angeles…etc where they get 2800 – 3000 hrs of sun annually, might consider their climate only “modestly sunny” and a place that gets 3500 – 3800 hrs like Phoenix or Cairo is “really sunny”. Yet, if you live in Paris or London (1600 - 1800 hrs of sun)….maybe you consider Rome or Washington DC (2400 hrs) sunny.
What is interesting about greater Europe – is that there are vast populated areas get a lot of sun hrs and many that get far less. IF you had your choice and you were moving to Europe (or you live in Europe and had to move to another part of Europe) – what would be the absolute lowest annual number of hrs you think you could handle in terms of annual sun hrs? I’m very likely far more solar powered than most of you so for me I picked 2300 as the lowest I think I could ever handle (though southern Italy, Greece, and Spain would be the optimum). The exact numbers are not as important as the geography of where you think you would go.
^^^Another great find, thanks!
Some possible explanations regarding the oddities/ surprising aspects of this map (assuming it's mostly accurate):
1) The light blue cloudy patch over north-central Europe can be explained by the combination of fog and frequent incursions of Atlantic depressions. Also these areas are often wettest in the summer, thereby reducing their sunshine potential.
2) The surprisingly sunny patches of eastern Scandinavia and parts of the Baltic may be due to the rain-shadow effect from the Norwegian mountains, blocking much of the rains from the west. Also, if easterlies blow in winter, which is quite common here, this tends to make fog much less likely to develop.
3) Much of Italy is less sunny that I would have expected, but on second thoughts much of Italy is actually quite rainy outside the core summer months of June, July and August.
4) The cloudy patch on the north coast of Spain (around Bilbao) maybe due to orographic lifting - rainclouds from Atlantic depressions dump their precipitation here before losing moisture as they rise over the Spanish "meseta".
5) The sunny areas around the Black Sea may simply due to the fact that this area is simply too far for Atlantic depressions to reach on a frequent basis. Mountainous Turkey just to the south also acts as a rain-shadow.
6) Thanks to the powerful mistral which blows away clouds and fog, the area around Marseille is the sunniest in France (as well as Corsica).
I've not been to Europe but I guess, as much as I like climate and weather, it would register perhaps not as much as opposed to lifestyle and other factors were I really to move there. But this is a weather topic so in generally, if you're asking about preferences -- I like and prefer at least 2000 hours (the level I'm familiar with or used to).
It's interesting to see a few deviations from the north-south trend based on the map.
I wonder what's up with the tongue of blue surrounded by green (that goes from northern France to just a bit into Ukraine, but doesn't seem to match any topographic feature), as well as the little bits of extra sun hugging the coast that surround the Baltic in a ring, a lot sunnier than other places at its latitude?
I thought long and hard about physiographic features, but as you rightly say there is no large scale change in topography. Then I thought about typical synoptic weather patterns and the genetics of how precipitation falls in Western Europe, checked a few text books – and maybe there is an answer (or a good guess -lol);
According to what I’ve read – as one moves eastward in central Europe and into western Russia precip gradually decreases, this due to the slackening of the effect of maritime disturbances with mild and unstable air (mPw) from the Atlantic… and the increase in colder/drier continental air flow in winter (cPk). If you follow that blue tongue (1200 – 1600 hrs of annual sunshine) into Eastern Europe – you’ll notice that it follows the mean latitude of the winter storm track into Europe from the Atlantic (near 46 – 49 latitude, and from the north). The blue area gradually narrows as it passes Germany and moves deeper into Eastern Europe. I would guess that as winter lows and other rain bringing weather disturbances move further and further eastward into interior Europe – they are frequently met by cold/dry high pressure from the north (coming from western Russia/Ukraine)…and by warm/subtropical high pressure from the south (coming from the rim lands of the Mediterranean Sea).
So perhaps, low pressure areas that follow the mean storm track in the cold season tend to dry out as they move eastward - so drier weather is more frequent and sun hrs increase both to the north and south of the mean storm track. Smoothing the data out on a map with many weather stations creates that narrow blue tongue that looks quite odd.
I can't help but think it's a joke when I read people on here moaning about only getting sun totals in the low 2000s - I'm not sure I want to uproot myself again but I'd be curious to see if I could readjust to 1500 if I spent a couple of years in a really sunny climate.
Sun totals in the low 2000s can still be nasty when concentrated in a particular season. When I lived in upstate NY with those sunshine totals, it meant sunshine percentages in the worst winter month below 30%, with the others around 30%. Sunshine would in short breaks in between mostly cloudy weather, though there was an occasional clear day. Coupled with the generally subfreezing weather and frequent blowing light snow (or drizzle on a warm day) it got rather depressing. I'd find the same gloominess in England less depressing as the winters are mild and there's some greenery. Cold + Cloudy is a double whammy of gloom.
Even so, I managed to get used to the winters; so I guess my limit is a bit under that sunshine total.
I can easily handle a maximum of 2000 hours per annum and the less, the better.
What would your favourite European climate be? Bergen, the 'City of Rain' gets 235 days of the wet stuff and not too much of that murderous, evil sun but IIRC you don't like the cold:
What would your favourite European climate be? Bergen, the 'City of Rain' gets 235 days of the wet stuff and not too much of that murderous, evil sun but IIRC you don't like the cold:
Sounds more than bloody perfect to me . I would be much happier if rain were recorded on more than 300 days per annum! Northern Europe's cloudy climates suits me just fine but could do with much more rain though.
I'm not really that fussed about temperatures. I don't like it when the icy cold westerly, here in the southern hemisphere on the east coast of Australia that is, is blowing - in fact it always feels colder when the sun is "glaring" out - such a unpleasant wind and I always shiver my arse off, if the wind is blowing onshore then it's much more bearable and not as cold
I have no idea how people manage to live in such a place. It makes London look like a warm sunny dry paradise.
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.
. I would be much happier if rain were recorded on more than 300 days per annum! Northern Europe's cloudy climates suits me just fine but could do with much more rain though.
