Ever Wonder How Many Sunny Days Connecticut Gets Each Year?

Well, here we are in the middle of another spring here in New England. Spring usually means some wet weather, but enough is enough. People are going out of their minds. The clouds and showers seem to be part of our day -- every day.

Ever wonder how many sunny days we actually get around here?

A few years back, when we were having another spring from hell, I started to wonder how many sunny days we actually get in a given year. I mean, it seems like for every nice day or two that we actually do get, there's a week or so of rain and cloudy weather that follows. Like you, I was completely fed up with spring in the Northeast, so I did some investigating. The results may shock you.

I found a chart that measures the average number of sunny hours a city has in a normal year, and clear days, which is the average number of days annually when clouds cover no more than 30% of the sky during daylight hours. Here's what I found out about Connecticut, as represented by stats from Hartford:

Hartford, Connecticut: 2585 Sunny Hours, 82 Clear Days a Year

Compare that with the top spot in the U.S.

Phoenix, Arizona: 3872 Sunny Hours, 211 Clear Days a Year

Now, it could be worse, check out these stats for the bottom spot on the list:

Buffalo, New York: 2207 Sunny Hours, 54 Clear Days a Year

** Both Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with 2021 sunny hours and Seattle, Washington at 2170 sunny hours were actually less then Buffalo, but each had slightly more Sunny Days.

So, you see, you're not crazy. We don't get all that much sunshine around these parts during the course of a year. So if you're looking for sunshine, you may have to pack up and move someplace else. If you're staying, then just remember, when you see a nice sunny day, just soak it all in because you know the rain is coming again soon.