Poor Sunshine Levels Dec 2011

[Coast]

I haven't got the level's for Eastbourne yet (produced at the end of the month) but the light is very scarce during the daytime as even with a relatively cloudless sky, it seems much darker than previous years.

[cheeky_monkey]

ive been back in the UK since 18th dec and i havent seen any sun at all...in contrast back in Edmonton it has been very sunny the last 3-4 months...reminds times like this why i left the UK very depressing.

[Aaron]

So there you go, there's good points on having bitterly cold, long winters - almost always WAY sunnier then Oceanic climates!

I quite enjoy the dark and dreary overcast weather so December hasn't been too bad, well, except how stupidly mild it has been.

[damianslaw]

Managed a chink or two of brightness today hooray - but no sunshine, so the 11th successive day with virtually no sunshine, it has made for a very dark festive period and had it not been for the festivities etc I think many in the NW half of the country would be feeling sun starved. Its weather like we have seen since the 19th that makes many think about holidays or indeed moving to somewhere much sunnier. The last three decembers have been very sunny thanks to high pressure, this year has brought us back down to reality.

[Terminal Moraine]

Sunshine here in December is still below average but has recovered somewhat after the very dull first half.

Currently the total is just over 36 hours compared to the 1981-2010 average for the whole month of 50.3 hrs.

[Aaron]

Managed a chink or two of brightness today hooray - but no sunshine, so the 11th successive day with virtually no sunshine, it has made for a very dark festive period and had it not been for the festivities etc I think many in the NW half of the country would be feeling sun starved. Its weather like we have seen since the 19th that makes many think about holidays or indeed moving to somewhere much sunnier. The last three decembers have been very sunny thanks to high pressure, this year has brought us back down to reality.

Most sane people do not move simply because it is 'too cloudy', unless you're retired.

I'm in a minority here because I love cloudy weather. And unless you have SAD I doubt you're feeling sun starved - surely you have more important things in life to be worrying about!!

[Milhouse]

Sunshine for the CET zone is running at 121% up to the 29th so as a whole its above average. Therefore there will be locations (i suspect the east coast) that are running appreciably above average. Especially so if there are locations in the NW that have seen very little sun in the last 10 days, so will be dragging the average down.

No complaints about the lack of sunshine here considering last December here ended on a very dull note. I see parts of the SE saw almost no sunshine at all in the last 2 weeks of last year.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Most sane people do not move simply because it is 'too cloudy', unless you're retired.

I'm in a minority here because I love cloudy weather. And unless you have SAD I doubt you're feeling sun starved - surely you have more important things in life to be worrying about!!

That strikes me as a rather intolerant post- how would most people feel on this forum if someone popped up and said exactly the same thing about snow starvation? Many of us get depressed after long cloudy spells, and SAD is probably just an extreme manifestation of the symptoms that many of us suffer from with lack of sunlight.

That said, there's nothing wrong with enjoying cloudy weather- indeed at the other extreme, I have a lot of sympathy for the unfortunate souls who suffer from "reverse SAD", where excess sunshine makes them feel depressed, and get rather baffled looks when they seek help.

I was on holiday in Cumbria from Boxing Day to today and only saw one glimmer of sunshine during the entire spell, which reflects Damianslaw's comments about persistent cloud cover in Cumbria. Even yesterday, which was a day of "sunshine and showers" for NW England, stayed cloudy in the Keswick area due to persistent orographically-enhanced low cloud, which covered up the holes in the cloud cover in between the showers.

Sunshine percentages have dropped over most parts of the country in the past week due to the tropical maritime air but most eastern parts are still reporting significant excesses.