MetaChat - Are there places that never have gloomy (very overcast) days?

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29 October 2010

Are there places that never have gloomy (very overcast) days? Like, in California or Arizona, for example, are there people who have never had the experience of looking out the window in the morning and thinking "What a gloomy day" or, if it doesn't strike them that way, at least hearing someone else call it gloomy, dreary, etc.? Especially without it being actually raining at the time? Or are overcast days just such an infrequent occurrence that it's actually a nice change when it happens? (which I can understand if it's been too hot out, of course.)

post by: serena at: 09:16 | 13 comments

I visited a friend in San Diego a couple of years ago; on one day, it suddenly started to spit rain, just barely, hardly noticeable to this New Englander, but all of a sudden everyone around us started screaming OH MY GOD! and heading into the nearest mall shops. "Oh, it never rains here," my friend said. (He also complained about how people TOTALLY can't drive when there's even a tiny bit of rain on the roads.) Their weathermen must be bored silly.

posted by Melismata 29 October | 09:41

I grew up in Hermosa Beach, CA,and we would get the June Gloom (it was never called that when I was there, but still). From mid-May until early July, very little sun near the ocean. And if the sun came out, it was in the afternoon.

So even the sunny places get some cloudy days, I think. Maybe not some place like Arizona though.

posted by danf 29 October | 09:49

I personally love the gloom of Western PA weather and really really don't like California because of the sunny weather but I realize that I might be in the minority here.

posted by octothorpe 29 October | 10:15

I now have the song Camelot running through my head.

posted by JanetLand 29 October | 10:34

Southern California can be very overcast. It can be overcast for a week or two at a time. Near the ocean it's often overcast into the afternoon, though it's sunny elsewhere.

Chicagoans are surprisingly fearful of rain. Precipitation which would be called a "sprinkle" in L.A. is "rain" in Chicago. Rain for more than three hours at a time is a major event. But multi-day rains are common in L.A.

posted by halonine 29 October | 11:00

It's mostly sunny here in my part of Florida. Of course we have overcast days, rain, and thunderstorms but the sunny days far outweigh the overcast days. We are having beautiful breezy bright and sunny weather but we're all hoping for rain. We need rain badly.

posted by LoriFLA 29 October | 11:04

I realize that I might be in the minority here.

Nope. I'm totally with you. (Except I'm in Eastern PA.) I find too much sunshine really oppressive.

posted by jrossi4r 29 October | 11:04

I lived in Montana for a few years. I liked overcast days as a pleasant break from the usual intense sunshine.

posted by DarkForest 29 October | 11:30

I love overcast days, especially here in Texas where all the flat land makes for some amazing cloud formations. Santa Barbara had its "June Gloom" periods--a low marine layer of clouds that lasted from sunrise til late afternoon--but it was during that area's rainy season that I learned to love the visual combination of gray rainy skies combined with tons of lush green vegetation on the ground. Gray/green is something I wish I could pull off in clothing but it just doesn't work on me.

posted by WolfDaddy 29 October | 11:51

≡ Click to see image ≡

The view out my office window a couple of days ago.

posted by octothorpe 29 October | 12:01

While AZ probably has 300 sunny days per year, it still experiences a wide variety of weather events. Monsoon thunderstorms, dust storms, hail, etc. A couple times a year car windshields get iced over. No snow in Phoenix, but you can get snow if you drive an hour straight north.

posted by mullacc 29 October | 15:48

Anywhere on the California coast is likely to be foggy for some portion of the year, more as you go north. My friend once spent a summer living in San Francisco's Sunset district, he counted 157 straight days of no sun.

posted by doctor_negative 29 October | 18:14

Your comments are fascinating...I used to prefer a "comfortable, normal" grey day when I was a kid; sunshine seemed rather bright and harsh. Things change when you get older. Of course, some grey days are a lot darker than others.

posted by serena 30 October | 07:53

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