Does Austin really get 300 days of sunshine? (live, mall)

[Tom Williams 9]

Does Austin get that much sun?

[Derek ATX]

I haven't see the exact stat but that sounds about right to me. When storm fronts blow through here they usually don't stay long. When they come down from the NW they are usuall pushed back up shortly afterwards by the strong southern flow from the gulf.

[Moonlady]

I posted that fact on another thread - I got it from this webpage on about.com:

Austin Weather Facts - Central Texas Climate and Typical Austin Weather (http://austin.about.com/od/weatherenvironment/a/weather.htm - broken link)

It also says we hav an average of 111 days abouve 90, so if you can't stand the heat, stay out of Texas!

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Tom Williams 9

Does Austin get that much sun?

Yes, I think we do, but it varies from year to year. And any particular day can be both a rainy day and a sunny day. And we can have an ice storm that shuts the city down for 3 days, and it will be 82 degrees the 4th day. This past June, I think it rained 22 or the 30 days if I remember right.

So we do have some wild and crazy weather.

Steve

[Derek ATX]

It was 40 straight days of rain. I remember this because of the bible reference that was made on the news and weather channel. That along with a rep of LCRA that had said in the early spring of 2007 on the news before the rains started that we would need rain of "biblical proportions" for Lake Travis to fill up for the summer. Well...........I guess he was right.

[casualobserver]

Not sure where you sourced the 300 day figure, but the NOAA average over the last 54 years is 115 "sunny" days for Austin.

Even Phoenix is just modestly over 200 days.




Sunshine Hours Page (http://www.thewellers.com/weller43/sunshine.htm - broken link)

[Derek ATX]

Originally Posted by casualobserver

Not sure where you sourced the 300 day figure, but the NOAA average over the last 54 years is 115 "sunny" days for Austin.

Even Phoenix is just modestly over 200 days.


Sunshine Hours Page (http://www.thewellers.com/weller43/sunshine.htm - broken link)

Hmm. it is NOAA so you can't really argue with that. I wonder what the standard is for sunny days. all day, just a portion? It would be interesting to find out what the standard is.

[gigi927]

I'd be interested in the definition too. I lived in Phoenix for 4 years and there were WAY more than 200 days of sun every year...in fact, every day felt like an eternity of sun!

[Tom Williams 9]

how doe Austin stack up against Phoenix though

[gigi927]

I find Austin much more tolerable than Phoenix, even with the higher humidity levels. In Phoenix it is hot all day and all night in the 6 months of summer and it is not uncommon to wake up in the morning with the temps already over 100 degrees. Here in Austin it seems like the mornings are tolerable and the really miserable time is in the mid to late afternoon. My test is what outdoor activities I could do in both locations either alone or with my kids; I do way more here in Austin than I ever did in Phoenix. When your kid can't go on the playground slide at 7 in the a.m. because it will scald his leg...you tend to just hang out at the mall