[OC] The Geography of Gloom: Typical Number of Cloudy Days per Year Across the Continental U.S.
Posted by skier_222
![[OC] The Geography of Gloom: Typical Number of Cloudy Days per Year Across the Continental U.S.](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/k5f9cwuy7jtf1-1536x1218.png "[OC] The Geography of Gloom: Typical Number of Cloudy Days per Year Across the Continental U.S.")
[OC] The Geography of Gloom: Typical Number of Cloudy Days per Year Across the Continental U.S.
Posted by skier_222
35 Comments
📊 **Data Sources**
• **Cloud cover fraction:** Downscaled ERA5 reanalysis from the [CONUS404 dataset (USGS)](https://www.usgs.gov/data/conus404-four-kilometer-long-term-regional-hydroclimate-reanalysis-over-conterminous-united)
• **Cultural boundaries:** [Natural Earth 1:10m Cultural Vectors](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/10m-cultural-vectors/)
• **Color palette:** [ColorBrewer Greys](https://colorbrewer2.org/)
Hourly total cloud cover fraction from CONUS404 was averaged within each day.
Days with mean cloud cover ≥ 85% were classified as *cloudy*. The number of cloudy days per year (1991–2020) was then averaged to produce a climatology.
*Note:* These are model-based estimates, not in-situ observations, and are therefore subject to model limitations.
Need scale of more than 200 for PNW.
“Gloomy”? More like “sheltered from the scorching cancerball”….
Cloudy days are the best days to be outside.
I lived in New Mexico for about 3 years and actually started to miss cloudy days. I would look forward to the occasional exciting day when the clouds would form and we’d actually get a cooling rainstorm! Change is good
Sure, 100+ cloudy days is gloomy, but 0-30 sounds like a nightmare.
The rain shadow effects behind mountains are really interesting along the west coast
Staying indoors all the time due to scorching heat sounds very gloomy to me
It’s funny how in WA you can see the divide between west WA (seattle) and east WA (spokane). The dividing line is the cascade mountain range, which keeps the clouds on the west side.
Prolly in the minority here, but I kinda like my gray and snowy upstate NY days.
I assume a rainfall map would be very similar, right?
Is there a subset of conus404 that has much less data. Or, is there a community dedicated to working with this data?
I love the title of your map.
Can confirm…. Michiganders…. Grab your vitamin D supplements. Depression season is coming.
Not to be a narc here, but I think it’s damn near impossible to measure gloominess on the southern part of our Pacific coast cause the cloud coverage is so transient and usually burns off by the afternoon.
So many days that start with dense fog and when I take a walk during my lunch break I am melted by a sun wind with 0 cloud coverage.
Cloudy days are nice though.
Cloudy days are part of the beauty in New England IMO.
Yeah, as a resident I can confirm. Don’t move to the PNW. As the heat map shows, it’s gloomy 150 days a year.
The other 215 days it’s raining. Stay in sunny California!
Arizona just has a different kind of doom. The sun is the doom.
If you want to see the animation of daily cloud cover changes visit https://myperfectweather.com/. Click cloud ☁️ icon and hit the play button. Hover on the map to see the value and click to see the list of cities in the county.
Click on city list to see more information.
Living in LA for 6 years made me really appreciate cloudy and rainy days. Now that I’m back in the northeast I get a smile on my face when I see it’s going to be a cloudy day
I get what you were going for with the white to black color scale, but man is it difficult to distinguish one shade of grey from another to match to the scale at the bottom
Do people not like rain and overcast? I love rainy weather. It’s sounds so nice and it’s pretty
That’s why I moved from Eastern PA to New Mexico. Had to do this otherwise would get depressed
You mean relief from the sun days
We finally made a map where Mississippi isn’t the worst.
Are the bodies of water included to indicate why there are so many cloudy days?
There is fairly minor but obvious issue with your color gradation scale labels.
[Where’s Alaska?](https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_United_States)
I like an overcast day. Maybe I’m nuts. But I’m bald and fair skinned. I don’t have to worry about sunglasses, hats and sunscreen (as much). I also drive east for work a couple days a week and at the right time of year the commute is hell driving straight into a blinding sun both ways.
I’m glad that this map confirms what anyone who lives or lived in the Southern Tier/Finger Lake regions of upstate NY already knew. Maybe 60 day a year without any precipitation. Enjoy the sunshine that comes through the breaks in the clouds.
As a Denverite, we get cold & snow in the winter, but at least the sun almost always melts it away in short order. I don’t know how you mid-westerners deal.
It’s not the cloud cover that makes it gloomy, it’s the lack of daylight from early Nov to early Feb. I love the rain, but getting off work to darkness is depressing as fuck.
Minnesota goes gray for winter.
And then mid summer is gray and yellow from Canadian wildfires.
This map isn’t detailed enough to capture the number of foggy gloomy days where I live in Monterey. We probably only see the sun rise or set 15% of the time.
Love the colour scheme. ☁️