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US sun hours are inflated compared to the rest of the world. The best example of this is when you compare sun hours in Detroit and Windsor; Detroit has an extra 200 hrs of sun, and many other places along the US border show similar discrepancies.
Even if they are inflated, the US still has more sun than the UK. I lived in the UK most of my life so I know how many overcast days I had to put up with. Summers in the UK are abysmal.
Even if they are inflated, the US still has more sun than the UK. I lived in the UK most of my life so I know how many overcast days I had to put up with. Summers in the UK are abysmal.
I don't know, like I said before I have spent a february there and it didn't strike as gloomy at all, sure it wasn't a Nice (no pun intended) winter but I remember a lot of sunny cold days and some sunny days where it wasn't that cold. Also, the snow on the ground makes everything look brighter, less grey than it would on a non snowy landscape.
I had a typo in the previous post; November to January has 30% or below sunshine. February is noticeably sunnier at 38%. You may have gotten a sunnier than usual February as well. I'd never say anything that was freezing cold, cold enough to keep snow on the ground, isn't that cold. You probably started dressing warmer or maybe just got used to the cold. I met a woman from Barcelona who spent a winter in New England, and she no longer found her winter temperatures chilly when she went home around Christmas.
When I visited England (yes, mostly London) in the winter, I found it much milder than home. But the below average days (mid or upper 30s?) felt kinda raw, I think it was cloudy with a bit of drizzle. I also got a couple days around 50°F that weren't sunny the whole day, but were mostly sunny for large part of the day; skycover did seem rather changeable though still obviously cloudier than home.
I've been all over the country. It's obviously a bit better in the south, particularly the south west, but even the sunniest parts of the UK don't get much above 1600 sunshine hours. I once heard a person back home say that Britain had good summers because we got "2 whole weeks of lovely sunshine!". 2 weeks! In the average US city you get at least a couple of months of good warm sunny weather in summer.
But, I don't want to be too down on it. At least it never gets too hot, and snow is rare whereas in a lot of big US cities snow is a given in winter. And rain isn't that frequent and is generally just drizzly.
I've been all over the country. It's obviously a bit better in the south, particularly the south west, but even the sunniest parts of the UK don't get much above 1600 sunshine hours. I once heard a person back home say that Britain had good summers because we got "2 whole weeks of lovely sunshine!". 2 weeks! In the average US city you get at least a couple of months of good warm sunny weather in summer.
But, I don't want to be too down on it. At least it never gets too hot, and snow is rare whereas in a lot of big US cities snow is a given in winter. And rain isn't that frequent and is generally just drizzly.
The sunniest parts of the UK get almost 2000 hours. London gets 1630-1650 and is nowhere near being among the sunniest parts of the South. We get a lot more than 2 weeks of sun in summer!
The sunniest parts of the UK get almost 2000 hours. London gets 1630-1650 and is nowhere near being among the sunniest parts of the South. We get a lot more than 2 weeks of sun in summer!
The sunniest part gets 1750 hours. Even so, that's the SUNNIEST part. The least sunny parts of America get more than that. The sunniest part of the US gets almost 4000 hours. Miami gets well over 3000. Even Seattle, which is viewed as one of the most drizzly grey cities in America, gets almost 2200.
I know the UK gets more than 2 weeks of sun, but this person was overjoyed that there had been 2 weeks of solid sunshine.
The sunniest part gets 1750 hours. Even so, that's the SUNNIEST part. The least sunny parts of America get more than that. The sunniest part of the US gets almost 4000 hours. Miami gets well over 3000. Even Seattle, which is viewed as one of the most drizzly grey cities in America, gets almost 2200.
I know the UK gets more than 2 weeks of sun, but this person was overjoyed that there had been 2 weeks of solid sunshine.
This debate is tedious, but sorry you are wrong.
Parts of coastal southern UK get close to 2000 hours of sunshine a year.
For US locations which use a different method for measuring sunshine data, you have to take about 200 hours from their totals.
Yes US is generally much sunnier than UK (to be expected given latitude differences) but places like Seattle are pretty similar to Portsmouth sunshine wise
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