It's a Partly Sunny Day in the Neighborhood

It's another beautiful, warm, sunny, spring day in the 'Burgh.  I stepped outside for a few minutes to soak in some UV rays as opposed to the flourescent rays that beam down on me while at my desk, and it got me to thinking - "Pittsburgh has more sunny days than we think." 

When I lived in Boulder, CO the locals were always raving about the amount of sunshine they were blessed with.  I agree, it was amazing.  I would rather wake up to the orange glowing ball every morning instead of a big frumpy cloud.  It was back then that I read some statistics on the amount of sunny days in certain US cities.  From what I recall Boulder was near the top with over 150 sunny days per year.  Pittsburgh on the other hand barely broke 60.

I did some research and found this site.  It is based on research done by the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).  They determined that Pittsburgh has (on average) only 59 sunny days per year.  59!!!  That's not even two full months of sunshine!  Holy shit that is depressing!  Where is my terrible towel, I need something to wipe my tears.  Just as I was planning to call super greeny and tell her we're moving back to Colorado, I noticed a disclaimer at the top of the page which reads: "This does not include Partly Sunny or Partly Cloudy days."  That, my friends, would appear to put things into perspective.  So I did a little more research to find out what in the hell "partly cloudy/sunny" actual means.

Basically, if there are anywhere between 1 and 6 clouds in the sky that are opaque, meaning unable to be seen through by an observer, then the day is labeled as partly sunny or cloudy.  So therein lies the issue.  There are many sunny days where we welcome that passing cloud that casts a shadow on us for a quick cool down - but it does not mean that Pittsburgh is next to only hell in its number of sunny days throughout the year. 

Doing a little more research I found this article written by Brett Yasko who is (at least in 2007) a designer living in the Strip District of Pittsburgh.  He was also perplexed by the insanely low number of calculated sunny days in the 'Burgh, so he decided to do his own research.  He tracked sunny days for an entire year and actually calculated the number to be 145!  Woo Hoo! 

Either way you look at it we are blessed with some beautius weather here in Western PA, and we should not let some silly NOAA research tell us otherwise.  Now take a break from work, step outside, and enjoy it!  If your boss tries to stop you sadly remind them that we now only have 58 1/2 sunny days left until next year.