Average Winter Sunshine by State

The tables below pull together numbers on the amount of sunshine that each US state usually has during winter. There's information by state on the season's averages for percent, hours and days of sun.

The % Sun number measures the percentage of time between sunrise and sunset that sunshine reaches the ground. Total Hours is the average number of sunny hours a place normally has in winter. Clear Days is the average number of days in winter when cloud covers at most 30 percent of the sky during daylight hours.

All of the numbers are averages of several decades of weather measurements. The winter totals are based on data for the months of December, January and February.

Since so few weather stations measure sunshine, meaningful state-wide averages aren't available. Instead, the tables list a place for each state that represents the state's typical amount of sunshine.

Average amount of sunshine in winter
State Place % Sun Total Hours Clear Days
Alabama Birmingham 46 464 22
Alaska Anchorage 34 255 19
Arizona Tucson 80 764 42
Arkansas Fort Smith 52 502 28
California San Diego 72 698 36
Colorado Grand Junction 62 577 27
Connecticut Hartford 52 485 22
Delaware Wilmington 22
Florida Tampa 64 594 29
Georgia Macon 58 554 25
Hawaii  Honolulu 65 25
Idaho Boise 43 366 14
Illinois Peoria 46 422 21
Indiana Indianapolis 42 380 17
Iowa Des Moines 50 450 23
Kansas Wichita 59 546 29
Kentucky Louisville 43 408 18
State Place % Sun Total Hours Clear Days
Louisiana New Orleans 48 472 23
Maine Portland 56 479 28
Maryland Baltimore 52 464 24
Massachusetts Boston 54 474 26
Michigan Lansing 36 340 10
Minnesota Minneapolis 51 449 22
Mississippi Jackson 51 472 25
Missouri Springfield 50 471 24
Montana Helena 48 368 13
Nebraska Lincoln 56 491 26
Nevada Reno 66 587 23
New Hampshire Concord 51 469 25
New Jersey Atlantic City 50 443 24
New Mexico Albuquerque 72 683 38
New York Syracuse 32 289 8
North Carolina Greensboro 53 507 28
North Dakota Bismarck 51 426 20
State Place % Sun Total Hours Clear Days
Ohio Columbus 36 321 12
Oklahoma Oklahoma City 59 571 32
Oregon Portland 30 266 8
Pennsylvania Harrisburg 49 448 20
Rhode Island Providence 55 493 26
South Carolina Columbia 58 528 28
South Dakota Huron 55 507 21
Tennessee Nashville 43 415 20
Texas Dallas 53 535 31
Utah Salt Lake City 47 404 17
Vermont Burlington 41 365 12
Virginia Richmond 55 515 25
Washington Seattle 30 232 8
West Virginia Beckley 14
Wisconsin Madison 46 405 20
Wyoming Lander 65 567 25
References

National Climatic Data Center. Comparative Climatic Data.

World Data Center for Meteorology. Climate of the World.

State Sunshine
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