Who gets more sun in the winter?

[Irrelevant]

I never thought about Winter overcast days as much as I looked at the whole year of "sunny" days.

On average, there are 152 sunny days per year in Seattle. Wenatchee averages 200 sunny days per year. The US average is 205 sunny days.​

​

Seattle, Washington gets 38 inches of rain, on average, per year. Wenatchee, Washington gets 9 inches of rain, on average, per year. The US average is 38.1 inches of rain per year.​

​

Seattle averages 4.6 inches of snow per year. Wenatchee averages 26.9 inches of snow per year. The US average is 27.8 inches of snow per year.​

Where I live it averages 260 sunny days a year, and the overcast Winter days yeah they are what they are, and it shortens the day markedly. But it is like the Shades of grey are less important. Grey is Gray...

You probably don't look at the winter weather as unique, because I almost guarantee you, you see more sun that I do in the winter, and it doesn't take much to provide some level of biological need. I would absolutely argue, esp from a mental health picture, that scattered cloudy days, or even scattered sunny days are significantly easier to deal with than perpetually cloudy days. Our current forecast says we might get sun next Thursday, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

We don't seem that much different than the US avg because we almost never see a cloudy full day, between May and Nov. Which is nice (though 1/4 - 1/3 of them are smoke filled) but my point is that it's a real extreme situation.

 

[Brad]

I've been struggling more and more with the grey clouds or lack of sun. I seriously haven't seen the sun, except for some brief moments skiing since Dec. Possibly before Christmas.

I had no idea when I moved here from the Seattle area that I would be seeing less sun in the winters. People used to say Wenatchee got 300 days of sunshine a year, but I've since learned that was an older ski area marketing claim, since they're always above the inversions.

I will certainly start snow birding like @Salmonchaser as soon as I can. I NEED more sun. I've been popping vit D like their pez, which helps, but still not enough.

Wenatchee must have the same marketing team as Bozeman. If you google "sunny days Bozeman" you'll get a bunch of "300 days of sunshine" BS. The average, however, is 188 Days.

 

[SAJ-99]

The answer is Seattle if you live in Wenatchee.
View attachment 260489
I'd like to add some more stations, but there seems to be some server issues this evening. Clearly we are the kings of the inversion. We'll even get inversion clouds even when get weather systems moving through for the double whammy of darkness.

You may enjoy the list. One is very close to you. I seen a few and can’t say as I would agree with the author.

20 Most Beautiful Winter Towns in the U.S. — Travel + Leisure

Plan a trip to these real-life winter wonderlands

apple.news

 

[FairWeather]

Laughs in Alaskan...

The sun actually cast a shadow yesterday at my house. It doesn't get above the mountains for about a month. Long days are heading our way, along with spring sunshine. I hope.

Kudos to you. After 4 years in Anchorage I had to bail. Couldn’t hang with the winters, or the crazies. The winter’s darkness and cold is not to be understated, add in the Fairview nutjobs shooting up the neighborhood, and it’s more than I could stand…so I moved on to sunny Oregon.

 

[Irrelevant]

I bailed on this dank hole and went to tropical country in the south this weekend with the pup. It was 50 and sunny, like stepping forward in time to spring.

And returned to 33 and foggy, with a 10-day forecast of inversion and rain/snow. Boooo

 

[TOGIE]

i can't read that graph for the life of me.

 

[Irrelevant]

We had sun today and it was glorious. But then we have this:

The Big Dry is Coming, And the Truth About the Pacific Data Void

This blog provides updated forecasts and comments on current weather or other topics

cliffmass.blogspot.com

High pressure = 30 and low clouds here... for the rest of the month.

 

[Irishman]

Sunshine just brightens up your outlook on life. I've been spending today plotting an escape to a sunnier place.
Don't know what Wenatchee is like, but here in Kalispell Montana you see very little sun. Sometimes you can travel a few miles from town and be in sunshine when Kalispell doesn't see it all day.
Another factor is of course being further north. The length of day in Southern Utah is about 1.5 hours more than here at this time of year. So the combination of weather that is more sunny and days that are longer, can be really appealing by the time it hits January every year.

 

[Salmonchaser]

I bailed on this dank hole and went to tropical country in the south this weekend with the pup. It was 50 and sunny, like stepping forward in time to spring.
View attachment 260940
And returned to 33 and foggy, with a 10-day forecast of inversion and rain/snow. Boooo

Did you find any chukar?

 

[Irrelevant]

Did you find any chukar?

Just a couple

 

[Elktrack]

For you @neffa3

 

[elkduds]

For you @neffa3

Amazon.com : mood light

 

[Salmonchaser]

Just a couple

Been raining like crazy down in Arizona, haven't found any quail yet to hunt. There are a bunch in Lost Dutchman State Park but I already got in trouble letting the girls point them. We're hopeful we'll be finding some to hunt soon. Moving on tomorrow.

 

[Irrelevant]

Been raining like crazy down in Arizona, haven't found any quail yet to hunt. There are a bunch in Lost Dutchman State Park but I already got in trouble letting the girls point them. We're hopeful we'll be finding some to hunt soon. Moving on tomorrow.

I'm real jealous

 

[TOGIE]

much easier on the eyes:

*pun intended

 

[Irrelevant]

much easier on the eyes:

*pun intended

View attachment 261131

View attachment 261134
View attachment 261135

okay. But also not accurate.

 

[TOGIE]

okay. But also not accurate.

in what context?

averages give generalities. it's only wrong if the average is wrong.

I say i drove 68 mph on average to get to work and you say i'm wrong because i in fact went many different speeds?

 

[Irrelevant]

in what context?

averages give generalities. it's only wrong if the average is wrong.

Negative. See the headings, it's a output from a model, which while using data is not based on data alone.

I say i drove 68 mph on average to get to work and you say i'm wrong because i in fact went many different speeds?

Just look at the results and think about how variable sunlight can be in areas you know the best. For example, Mission Ridge ski area, 12 miles from my office, does actually get over 300 days of sunshine a year, while Wenatchee gets over 200.

 

[TOGIE]

Negative. See the headings, it's a output from a model, which while using data is not based on data alone.

Just look at the results and think about how variable sunlight can be in areas you know the best. For example, Mission Ridge ski area, 12 miles from my office, does actually get over 300 days of sunshine a year, while Wenatchee gets over 200.

but i've always heard a "day of sunlight" is not actually defined

 

[Irrelevant]

but i've always heard a "day of sunlight" is not actually defined

Sure, but how would that not considerably skew avg solar radiation?

The point I was trying to make is that I'm really quite sick of model results like those you posted, they are insufferably inaccurate at a local level.