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The map above compares the number of hours of sunshine per year in Europe compared to the United States. What’s really surprising is just how much more sun the US gets on average compared to Europe.
This is of course due to the fact that Europe is actually quite a bit further north than most people think.
Here are the top 10 major cities in both Europe and the US in terms of sunshine hours per year:
Europe:
- Nicosia, Cyprus: 3,314.1 hours
- Ierapetra, Greece: 3,102 hours
- Valletta, Malta: 3,054 hours
- Seville, Spain: 2,906 hours
- Athens, Greece: 2,848 hours
- Marseille, France: 2,836 hours
- Lisbon, Portugal: 2,806 hours
- Madrid, Spain: 2,769 hours
- Barcelona, Spain: 2,591 hours
- Tirana, Albania: 2,544 hours
USA:
- Yuma, Arizona: 4,015.3 hours
- Phoenix, Arizona: 3,871.6 hours
- Las Vegas, Nevada: 3,825.3 hours
- Tucson, Arizona: 3,806.0 hours
- El Paso, Texas: 3,762.5 hours
- Sacramento, California: 3,607.8 hours
- Fresno, California: 3,564.2 hours
- Albuquerque, New Mexico: 3,415.4 hours
- Los Angeles, California: 3,254.2 hours
- Miami, Florida: 3,154.0
And here are the 10 major cities that get the least sunshine in Europe and the United States:
Europe:
- Tórshavn, Faroe Islands: 840 hours
- Reykjavik, Iceland: 1,326 hours
- Edinburgh, UK: 1,427 hours
- Dublin, Ireland: 1,453 hours
- Brussels, Belgium: 1,546 hours
- Zurich, Switzerland: 1,566 hours
- Warsaw, Poland: 1,571 hours
- Berlin, Germany: 1,626 hours
- London, UK: 1,633 hours
- Paris, France: 1,662 hours
USA:
- Juneau, Alaska: 1,530.7 hours
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 2,021.3 hours
- Anchorage, Alaska: 2,061.2 hours
- Seattle, Washington: 2,169.7 hours
- Columbus, Ohio: 2,182.6 hours
- Cleveland, Ohio: 2,280.0 hours
- Portland, Oregon: 2,340.9 hours
- Detroit, Michigan: 2,435.9 hours
- Indianapolis, Indiana: 2,440.4 hours
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin: 2,483.6 hours
Find this map interesting? Please help by sharing it:
Mac says
Is this daylight hours or sunshine hours? Two related but quite different concepts.
Zoltán Kepe says
Daylight hours is 365×12hours = 4380 hours anywhere in the world, if I am not mistaken…
Richard Giandana says
Why is it that Yuma gets more hrs of sunshine than where I live in Austin, TX even though we’re farther south?
Vandy Beth Glenn says
I’m guessing they’re taking into account cloud cover and occlusion by mountains, as well as latitude.
But that’s just a guess.
t.mallory says
clouds – very little precipitation in Yuma.
Phil says
Because Youma has desert climate which usually means very low participation and a lot of sunshine and no cloud cover. Austin has different climate type. Beeing more south doesn’t mean you’ll get more sunshine.
David Smith says
Eastern Washington State is sunny most of the year. If it weren’t the Columbus River winding through it, it would be a waterless desert. Eastern Oregon is sunny also, but no water.
t.mallory says
That would be the columbia river, not columbus. It also drains eastern Oregon, via the Deschutes River and other drainages. the Klamath river, a major drainage in Northern California, has its origins in several major lakes along the southern Oregon border.