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I have lived in ALL these places - husband is an EEU citizen who gets moved around at work . I will say that at least during the years I lived there that Portland rained THE most of all . Yes there were some nice really beautiful days but mainly it was a 2 year monsoon. I've seen far more shockingly bright days here in Seattle. It is a gorgeous bright white sun (to my eyes anyway - I grew up in Texas) and still cool while it is bright . ( again though I grew up in a blast furnace so who am I to say whats hot ). Love London, Seattle and LA . I can do without Portland .
During the summer, it almost never rains in Portland and gets on average about 30 more hours of sunshine per month than Seattle. To answer the OP, the climates of seattle and portland are more like London than LA.
London percentage possible sunshine:
July:45%
August: 48%
Portland percentage possible sunshine:
July: 70%
August: 68%
Maybe you meant cloudy compared to a really sunny place like Denver...but nope, pretty similar -- even though Seattle is on the ocean and Denver is semi-arid:
Denver percentage possible sunshine
July:71%
August: 72%
Or maybe you meant compared to other large US cities in the northern/mid tier:
NYC percentage possible sunshine
July: 59%
August: 63%
Don't forget that the methods of calculating sunshine hours are different in the UK to the US, so summers in the UK are above 50% sunshine by US methods, although the other places are still quite a bit sunnier.
Don't forget that the methods of calculating sunshine hours are different in the UK to the US, so summers in the UK are above 50% sunshine by US methods, although the other places are still quite a bit sunnier.
Even if you increased the UK's sunshine percentage by 10% it would be substantially lower than Seattle (especially since London is quite a bit further north and has longer summer days, so the actual number of hours of sunshine is way way less). And when comparing Seattle and NYC the same methods are being used.
London percentage possible sunshine:
July:45%
August: 48%
Portland percentage possible sunshine:
July: 70%
August: 68%
Maybe you meant cloudy compared to a really sunny place like Denver...but nope, pretty similar -- even though Seattle is on the ocean and Denver is semi-arid:
Denver percentage possible sunshine
July:71%
August: 72%
Or maybe you meant compared to other large US cities in the northern/mid tier:
NYC percentage possible sunshine
July: 59%
August: 63%
I think sunshine stats are really variable. In the UK it seems like their measure of a sunny day is a lot more stringent than what the US considers a sunny day. I've read stats saying Portland only gets 45% of potential sunshine during the summer.
The confusion comes, I think from partly cloudy days and how they are counted.
I think sunshine stats are really variable. In the UK it seems like their measure of a sunny day is a lot more stringent than what the US considers a sunny day. I've read stats saying Portland only gets 45% of potential sunshine during the summer.
The confusion comes, I think from partly cloudy days and how they are counted.
All US locations are counted the same. So if Portland only gets 45% of possible sunshine during the summer, what does Manhattan get? 20%?
All US locations are counted the same. So if Portland only gets 45% of possible sunshine during the summer, what does Manhattan get? 20%?
Using the most recent data (1998-2012) for Vancouver, Washington a suburb of Portland it's clear or mostly clear 70% of the time in the summer. This would I suppose be typical of Portland's climate in the 2000s.
For New York City the closest and most recent I could find is Teterboro, New Jersey (1981-2012) and it was clear or mostly clear about 43% of the time during the summer there. This would be typical of the 1990s.
So yes I stand corrected Portland is considerably sunnier in the summer time than New York and it seems like it's becoming sunnier due to climate change. Its summer sunshine is actually similar to somewhere like Omaha, Nebraska these days.
Using the most recent data (1998-2012) for Vancouver, Washington a suburb of Portland it's clear or mostly clear 70% of the time in the summer. This would I suppose be typical of Portland's climate in the 2000s.
For New York City the closest and most recent I could find is Teterboro, New Jersey (1981-2012) and it was clear or mostly clear about 43% of the time during the summer there. This would be typical of the 1990s.
So yes I stand corrected Portland is considerably sunnier in the summer time than New York and it seems like it's becoming sunnier due to climate change. Its summer sunshine is actually similar to somewhere like Omaha, Nebraska these days.
Yes which is very unusual for an oceanic climate. Which is why, combined with the summer drought, I think rainshadow zones of the PNW have to considered hybrid oceanic/med. climates. (Still more like London than LA of course - I keep forgetting which thread we're in.)
I think sunshine stats are really variable. In the UK it seems like their measure of a sunny day is a lot more stringent than what the US considers a sunny day. I've read stats saying Portland only gets 45% of potential sunshine during the summer.
The confusion comes, I think from partly cloudy days and how they are counted.
From what I can tell, Pacific Northwest tends to go from clear to cloudy with less partly cloudy than most places. So the type of instrument shouldn't make as much difference.
Vancouver records 59% sunshine in July, 62% in August using the same instrument as the UK. Portland is definitely sunnier than Vancouver, especially in the summer.
From what I can tell, Pacific Northwest tends to go from clear to cloudy with less partly cloudy than most places. So the type of instrument shouldn't make as much difference.
Vancouver records 59% sunshine in July, 62% in August using the same instrument as the UK. Portland is definitely sunnier than Vancouver, especially in the summer.
Yes, I can back this up. The really remarkable difference is between Vancouver and Victoria, which gets 68% in July and 67% in August. Vancouver is squeezed up against the North Shore mountains, and the clouds tend to build up against the ridges and hang around. In Victoria clouds just pass over. In the summer, skies are often very clear over Victoria and the Gulf Islands. When I moved to the eastern United States I was blown away by how cloudy the summer seemed. Even when it's sunny, there are *always* clouds moving through, especially when it's hot and humid. Very different from the PNW which is crystal clear blue skies during the summer (or at least that's how I remember it).
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