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I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, primarily in Western Oregon, but also lived 4 years in the Puget Sound. So, being that I am a person who grew up under a considerable amount of cloud cover, you would have thought that I would be the last person complaining about cloudy weather once I left Western OR/WA. However, I have noticed after living in the Treasure Valley, at least for this year, that it appears to be cloudy a considerable amount of time. Considering this is a desert, I am actually pretty perplexed as to why the place is as cloudy as it is.
Mind you, that the Treasure Valley does not rain much at all, but it seems that the clouds from either the Owyhees or Rocky Mountains to the North come and congregate into the valley, much the way the clouds come into the Willamette Valley of Oregon from the Coast and Cascades and settle in the Willamette. The only difference is that when the clouds come into the Willamette Valley they come with a lot of rain, which makes the Willamette Valley green and lush. Here, the rain clouds seems to dry up once they get into the Treasure Valley, leaving dry clouds that just keep the sky grey, but without the benefits of the added greenery, which you will have once you go up into the mountains.
What I am wondering is if anyone else notices how cloudy the area is and how few actual clear sunny days there are here. I remember living in Seattle that if it is sunny outside, that it will usually stay sunny and bright the whole day. Here, in the Treasure Valley, if it is sunny, it usually will be cloudy by the end of the day as the clouds from, wherever, roll into the valley. I also am bewildered about how many days I will wake up and there is a morning marine like layer (or is it an inversion?) and it is cloudy. This is almost coastal like weather and makes absolutely no sense to have so many morning marine layers when there is no significant body of water for 100s of miles in any direction. Can anyone else explain this phenomenon?
Anyway, I guess I will have to say, overall, it's nice that it is not drizzly all the time, but I was hoping living in Southern Idaho, in a desert, that I would have had more sunshine and sunny days. However, after living here, I actually feel like it is cloudy more often here in Boise area than it was even in Seattle. In fact, the irony was that when I was house hunting last February, it was cloudy the whole way from Boise back to Western Washington, until I went over the Cascades and then it was sunny. Bizarre phenomenon.
As far as sunny summers are concerned, well Western WA/OR are pretty consistently sunny from Mid June to Mid September, although it varies in the year. And, in respect to summers: I notice whereas it will be sunny all day in the summer in Western WA/OR, in the Treasure Valley it will cloud up in the afternoon and there will be severe thunderstorms. Of course, I know afternoon thunderstorms is a Rocky Mountain trademark. But, I also am including this into the cloudiness equation.
I grew up in Oregon and even lived in Eugene for a few years, and it's not even remotely close to as cloudy in the Treasure Valley. You get a solid 7 months of drizzle, fog and clouds over there.
And it's not hotter than Phoenix or Baghdad, it doesn't get colder than Minnesota or North Dakota, it doesn't get more snow than Buffalo and/or upstate NY, and it's not as humid as the South.
To answer somewhat more seriously, we get a surprising amount of clouds/layer through the winter and spring, but usually once summer hits it's blue skies. We don't get the 300 days that Colorado says it gets, but I'd wager we get 3 times the amount of clear days that Western WA or OR get.
You might be the first person I've ever heard say it is too cloudy here (outside of winter inversions, that is).
It isn't even close to as cloudy as the Washington/Oregon coast. We get over 200 days of sunshine in an average year, which is 50 more than either Seattle or Portland.
I agree that it is not as foggy, misty, drizzly as Western OR/WA, but I have notice the sky here is fairly cloudy often. Perhaps, this year, is abnormal and I know that from one year to the next things can change and that one year cannot represent the normal, but since i lived here in February, it has been cloudy more often than not. Like today, I woke up and it was grey outside. This feels all too normal, growing up in Oregon to wake up with a grey sky. I'd think that in June, in a desert, you would not have so many marine layers.
As far as Western OR/WA, it is consistently cloudy in winter and spring, but in Summer and Fall it is sunny quite a bit, whereas Fall is a bit mixed.
Living here, it has been overcast all winter and it seems there is never a real sunny day, but rather all the days are partly cloudy or start out sunny but end up cloudy. In Western OR/WA, when it is sunny, it's sunny and if it is cloudy then it is usually just cloudy the whole day. I find it a strange phenomenon.
Whereas in Western OR/WA you will have 4 days of rain then 3 days of clear skies, here it is like you will have cloudy days (no rain) and then the sunny days are just partly cloudy and tend to end almost cloudy by late afternoon.
I don't think I ever lived in the Treasure Valley in late Summer or Fall, so I not familiar with those seasons.
I think Denver's claims of 300 days are inflated, other sources put it closer to 250, but its still a great deal of sunshine.
A lot of it depends on whether you are asking about totally sunny days, partly sunny days, or days where you saw a glimpse of blue sky. In Seattle, even catching sight of a small patch of blue sky in the winter can be cause for small celebration. I'd wager Vandal's estimate isn't too far off the mark in terms of totally clear days in Boise vs. Seattle.
To answer somewhat more seriously, we get a surprising amount of clouds/layer through the winter and spring, but usually once summer hits it's blue skies. We don't get the 300 days that Colorado says it gets, but I'd wager we get 3 times the amount of clear days that Western WA or OR get.
I've lived in both Colorado and Boise, and don't really think there is much difference in the number of sunny days from my subjective experience. Boise weather is generally milder than Colorado's and without the crazy changes they get there.
So when do we start seeing sunshine in June? It's been cloudy/party cloudy and muggy, even cold and drizzly a few days. I am just wondering when we get the long stretch of real Blue Skies that I am use to seeing in Portland/Seattle usually after mid June. I understand this must be just a strange year. Those do happen. Looking at forecast for next week says it is suppose to be partly cloudy and very hot next week.
The weather does seem fairly predictable in most of the Northwest for the most part. Boise has some serious thunder storms though in Summer, that is not common in the Western Cascades. I am assuming, from what I heard about Denver, it can go from snow and blizzard int he morning to hot and sunny in the afternoon.
It's also June - most years you'll get some hot, some cold and lots of in between. Thunderstorms are most common in late spring and early summer.
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