[Jay_F]

I have lived in many places where from around Nov to April, a thick, very gray pall of clouds can go on for days at a time... Very different when I lived out West, where abundant bright sunshine makes even very cold days seem like no big deal and uplifting. I'm wondering if any parts of MI receive substantially more sunshine in the winter than other places? Not necessarily dawn-to-dusk, wall to wall bright sunshine, but say even 50/50 partly cloudy would be nice.

I have attached a satellite photo of what I think shows what I am talking about; MI is covered in intermittent cloud cover, where to the SE, you can see PA under a blanket of dreary smothering cloud cover. Is this photo typical of some/many areas of MI in the winter? I'm sure it could be very cloudy at times, but perhaps lake conditions such as freeze-over helps mitigate some of this. Thanks for your answers and insight.

[MikeBear]

I've lived in mid-Michigan my entire 61 years. It's much more cloudy overall most of the year, than it is sunny.

[Vegabern]

That's the difference between eastern US and western. MI is in the eastern half.

[scorpio516]

Welcome to Michigan.

There might be some microclimates in the porcupines that break up the clouds.
Percentage of available sunshine (i.e. inverse of cloud cover):
Detroit, November 36%, December 31%, Jan 41%, Feb 47% Mar 50%
GR, Nov 28%, Dec 22%, Jan 30%, Feb 39%, Mar 45%
Alpena, Nov 29%, Dec 27%, jan 38%, Feb 46%, Mar 53%
Sault Ste Marie, Nov 25%, Dec 29%, Jan 37%, Feb 49%, Mar 56%
Marquette, Nov 29%, Dec 29%, Jan 38%, Feb 45%, Mar 49%

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by Vegabern

That's the difference between eastern US and western. MI is in the eastern half.

More interior vs mountains vs coasts

The midwest is blanketed with clouds
The rockies have clear cold days
The east coast has clear moderate days (Its usually warmer in Boston than any Great Lakes city)
The west coast has rainy winters

[DTWflyer]

This is very common in Michigan, primarily due to the impact of the Great Lakes.
We can get gray overcast for days at a time dependent on the weather patterns, humidity, air temperatures, but most importantly water temperate of the lakes.

A lot of the cloudiness that occurs in the fall and early winter that isn't specifically associated with a weather system sweeping through is due to the cooler air moving over the warmer water of the Great Lakes. The lakes take longer too cool down in the fall and conversely longer to warm-up in the spring. On average, Lake Michigan will start to get a significant amount of ice cover by late Jan/early Feb and then we tend to see a bit less of this lake-driven overcast. By March it starts to go the other way and the air temps are warmer than the lake/ice and it tends to be less gloomy.
We can get some really bright sunny days, in the winter but it usually tends to be when we get a really cold and dry air mass in place.

The Detroit area tends to just a little bit slightly less than the western side of the state, but not by much.
You really notice this if when you drive into Ohio during this time. Once you get a bit south of Toledo it would be bright and sunny, and be full on overcast all over Michigan.

I was flying back from Kansas City to Detroit in early-December and it was cold, yet bright and sunny all over the Midwest. Not a cloud out there flying over Missouri & Illinois. I took a pic out the window over Chicago where it was sunny, the coming across Lake Michigan, you could see where the wall of clouds started and the entire Lower Peninsula was socked-in, deep overcast on arriving into Detroit.

[Coldjensens]

We get a trade off for cloudy. No hurricanes, floods of significance, earthquakes, raging wildfires, mudslides, extremely rare drought, smog alerts, tsunamis, poisonous or man eating animals or bugs, etc. All we have is lack of sunshine cold and Canadians. Might be a worthwhile trade off.







(Just kidding, I actually really like Canadians).

[teachbeach]

It seems as the colder it is, the greater chance of getting a sunny day. I do find Michigan winters somewhat depressing because of the constant gray. As a previous poster mentioned, we don't get hurricane's, earthquakes, mudslides, raging wildfires, rarely tornado's, our summers are spectacular, and our air is always clean to breathe.

[MI1287]

My least favorite thing about Michigan winters. I can deal with cold and snow but the constantly gloomy sky is extremely depressing.

[snoopygirlmi]

I've been using my "happy light" since October. Michigan is not the place to be if you want "blue skies" and "sun" in the winter. Like MI12887 said, dealing with the snow/the cold isn't the hard part. It's the cloudiness that gets to you. Everyone seems to celebrate when the sun peeks out of the clouds for a little bit and are disappointed if they miss it because it's so fleeting.

My psychiatrist tells me at every visit that if insurance covered a trip south for a week during the winter, she'd prescribe one to all of her clients because it's not helpful it's so cloudy and dark all the time. You really have to learn to work your way around it and stay busy.

That's a big reason why there's a huge snowbird culture. And the majority of people left up here are super jealous that they aren't among the people able to leave for the winter months.