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I thought USA used a different measuring system which gives higher results than the rest of the world by around 10%?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Palider
Pretty sure there's a standardized measuring system, isn't it?
ASOS sites in the U.S have a device that measures sky conditions. But It can't account for "thin" clouds so it's daily cloud cover can be too high (BKN, OVC which may not be opaque). So U.S sites will read higher results for clouds.
% of possible sun was more reliable with human obs, but that's gone now. Too costly to pay someone to constantly watch the sky.
I been trying here and its impossible. You need constant attention to the sky every minute/hour to count the amount of sun that has been shining.
Back in the day we had a recorder that "ticked off" each minute of sunshine. Day total was divided by total possible for %. No more
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMI
Yes, Redding sunshine stats on Wiki indicate being close to Yuma ....up around 3900
but Redding gets more than five times the average annual precip.
Something doesn't jive..
I'm sure if someone set up accurate sunshine recording equipment
in certain areas of the Sahara it would beat Yuma.
Maybe also in Saudi Arabia's "empty quarter" ...out in the dunes.
South America's Atacama is the driest in the world, could be a contender too.
Reddings rain all falls in late Fall winter and early spring. From mid Spring to mid Fall, they are bone dry. And from June to August, they have "blue dome" every day, because they don't get the monsoon like we do here in the desert.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chiluvr1228
I would think any of the deserts would be the sunniest places on earth. Fort Myers, FL has got to be up there somewhere. There's got to be a reason we are called The Sunshine State. It's rare that we don't have a sunny day here; even during our rainy season, the rain lasts for an hour or two and then the sun is back. Here in the winter we rarely see a cloud in the sky which makes a 70 degree day feel even warmer.
Florida generally sees between 60-70% possible sunshine every year. Nowhere near the top. That is just under Coastal California. Florida got called the sunshine state because it was settled by Americans before the southwest which was still part of Mexico at that time. Arizona, southern Nevada and interior California are the three sunniest places in the lower 48
Reddings rain all falls in late Fall winter and early spring. From mid Spring to mid Fall, they are bone dry. And from June to August, they have "blue dome" every day, because they don't get the monsoon like we do here in the desert.
Yeah, and days are longer in the summer, so that's when you rack up sun hours the most. That's why you can't just look at annual cloudiness as the further away from thr equator you are, annual cloud distributions matter more and more. For example, if 70% of all clouds fall during winter, a place on the arctic circle would rack up loads more of sunshine hours than a place at 40'N of they have the same annual cloud percentage. Northern Sweden can get thus get more sunshine than southern Sweden even with a higher cloudiness.
Reddings rain all falls in late Fall winter and early spring. From mid Spring to mid Fall, they are bone dry. And from June to August, they have "blue dome" every day, because they don't get the monsoon like we do here in the desert.
According to 4 years of cloud cover data provided by a satellite (Landsat 8) from all over the world, the most cloud free location on Earth is proved to be a patch of desert along the borders of Egypt, Libya and Sudan ! Over there, a little more than 91% of all Landsat 8 scenes are completely free of any cloud !
You guys still don't believe me ? Check this other website that just confirms that the sunniest place on Earth lies in northern Africa as I've said it for a long time :
So yeah, people must accept that Yuma, Arizona is really far from being able to claim the title of the most sunshiny city in the world ! Aswan, Egypt ; Khartoum, Sudan ; Dubaï, UAE are all way sunnier, for instance !
According to 4 years of cloud cover data provided by a satellite (Landsat 8) from all over the world, the most cloud free location on Earth is proved to be a patch of desert along the borders of Egypt, Libya and Sudan ! Over there, a little more than 91% of all Landsat 8 scenes are completely free of any cloud !
You guys still don't believe me ? Check this other website that just confirms that the sunniest place on Earth lies in northern Africa as I've said it for a long time :
So yeah, people must accept that Yuma, Arizona is really far from being able to claim the title of the most sunshiny city in the world ! Aswan, Egypt ; Khartoum, Sudan ; Dubaï, UAE are all way sunnier, for instance !
Regarding the cloudiest locations, I'm skeptical of reports that seem to exclude the subantarctic oceanic areas.
So yeah, people must accept that Yuma, Arizona is really far from being able to claim the title of the most sunshiny city in the world ! Aswan, Egypt ; Khartoum, Sudan ; Dubaï, UAE are all way sunnier, for instance !
I think it has been well known that North Africa around the Sahara is the driest and most sunny area on earth. I think the problem is that there are far fewer instruments in the area to record data. I notice that in the few pics I've seen of the Sahara you never see anything growing, just pure sand. This might be a false image I have though.
I think Yuma gets like 7 cm/3 in. of rain annually, more than the Sahara I would guess. Having been through the desert here, the areas around Yuma and Palm Springs are stark and have that look of a burning desert, but there are some oasis and isolated greenery here and there due to the slight rainfall it seems.
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