# Sunshine comparison per state?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunshine-comparison-per-state/281040>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 21, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunshine-comparison-per-state/281040 "2004-12-21T20:38:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mangork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mangork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangork)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunshine-comparison-per-state/281040/1 "2004-12-21T20:38:19Z")

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Quick question for anyone knowledgable about weather statistics. Does anyone have any idea where I can find a breakdown of the amount of sunny vs. cloudy days recieved per state? I have tried to google but no luck, thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunshine-comparison-per-state/281040/2 "2004-12-21T21:30:44Z")

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Have you tried the [National Weather Service](http://www.nws.noaa.gov/)? Try the “past weather” link on the left hand side, under “information center.”

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**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunshine-comparison-per-state/281040/3 "2004-12-21T21:35:29Z")

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It would seem to be a bit difficult to do that on a whole state (vs place) basis. Here in Florida it can be raining here and sunny across the street. Did we have a sunny day or a rainy day? The now defunct Clearwater Sun used to promise a free newspaper any day the sun didn’t shine. They seldom had to give one out, yet we have a pretty high average rainfall.

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**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunshine-comparison-per-state/281040/4 "2004-12-21T21:53:13Z")

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Hmmm. Let me go do some googling. Some terms you may want to look for are “clearness index” (which gives you a relative measure of how much time the sky is clear), or perhaps “insolation table.” Insolation is the technical term for the amount of solar radiation incident at a point, so areas with higher insolation figures are typically clearer.

I’ll see if I can find anything online. I know both of these items are readily available in solar energy reference books.