CLEVELAND, Ohio — How gray are Cleveland skies?
Cleveland last month was ranked the fifth “gloomiest city” in the nation, by move.org, with 202 cloudy days. The rankings were based on annual cloud cover nationwide as reported by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
We haven’t had a purely sunny day since November.
In December, Cleveland had 25 cloudy days, six partly cloudy days, and zero clear days, according to the National Weather Service. Of January’s six full days, all of them have been cloudy.
That’s on par for winter in Cleveland, or really, Cleveland in general.
Last January, we had 22 cloudy days and 9 partly cloudy. Throughout all of 2020, we had 202 cloudy days, according to NOAA, which measures cloud cover from sunrise to sunset.
Our summertime playground causes clouds because of lake effect.
As colder, dry air moves over the warmer lake, it gains heavy heat and moisture from the lake surface. The warmer, moister air rises and mixes with the colder air, leading to evaporation from the lake surface that forms stratocumulus clouds. Hence the thick, blanket-like coating over the sky we so commonly see in the winter.
The days are mostly gray (or snowy) when we have predominantly westerly winds. The west-to-east wind pushes the lake-enhanced clouds right into the snow belt region from Northeast Ohio to New York.
If you want a sunny day, hope for southern winds.
We felt our last warmth past November — remember November, when temperatures spiked above 70 degrees? — had 11 cloudy days, 12 partly cloudy days, and 7 clear days. Over September, October and November, Cleveland’s skies averaged 57% cloud cover.
Of course you could always cross your fingers for the lake to freeze.
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