Please help me appreciate grey skies!

May 10, 2020 12:55 PM

I find both white and grey skies depressing which is highly unfortunate as I live in the United Kingdom.

For me, a blanket of pure white or grey sky is misery inducing. I rely far too much on blue skies and the sunshine to lift me up. The sun is good. We like the sun. It lifts everything it illuminates, including myself, almost instantly. The grey sky illuminates nothing. I can't think of anything good about grey or white skies and I need my mind changed.

If you love shit weather please explain why.

If you know of any poems, songs, novels, movies, photography or any other art that depicts the beauty or pleasures of grey skies, please post them. Post them all!

N.B. Please nothing about the rain. It has hogged enough of the limelight.

posted by ihaveyourfoot to Health & Fitness (31 answers total)

I lived for twenty years in Seattle, which is overcast for most of the year. I came to view the clouds like a nice woolly sweater over the land. Because of them, the country was far warmer than it would have been, being so far north. Snow is quite rare, and year round gardening is possible--I remember roses blooming into December. Unthinkable in New England where I live now.
posted by Sublimity at 1:08 PM on May 10, 2020

A grey sky is surprisingly colourful; blacks, greys, purples, blues, maybe even oranges and reds.

The strong sun can be quite harsh and unforgiving so you could see the grey clouds as a sort of protection from that.
posted by iamsuper at 1:19 PM on May 10, 2020

You can spend so much more time outside in overcast weather without worrying about sunstroke/heatstroke/dehydration/eyestrain from too much light... in hot sunny places, the sun is generally a thing to be avoided. As a recent transplant to (mostly) sunny California, I miss being able to step outside for a walk without having to time it to avoid the high sun, or otherwise locate a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, maybe some extra water.. Maybe it's a case of the grass being greener on the other side (except in this case the grass literally is greener than here, where it is parched and brown 8 months of the year... hmph.)
posted by btfreek at 1:38 PM on May 10, 2020

I am in Boston, my eyes are really sensitive to the sun and I feel so much more relaxed when it is overcast and I am not squinting and blinded. I loved Seattle so much. But even so, I spend a fair amount of time wearing ridiculous looking yellow sunglasses because they make me feel so much better. So I guess my ideal is overcast with fake sun feeling.
posted by InkaLomax at 1:43 PM on May 10, 2020

I live in a cloudy place. I like the contrast of the greens and yellows of the leaves, and black tree trunks against a gray ski. Also, it’s better than 24 hour darkness.
posted by waving at 1:44 PM on May 10, 2020

I grew up partly in Seattle, live here now, have lived in many other parts of the world and I really do love the grey, misty weather here. I think there is so much variety in a grey sky, many more colors than a blue sky, which is just unrelentingly blue. I love the soft, pearly quality of the sky. I think the trade off in grey and rainy for lush and green is well worth it. I love sweater weather. I love being able to take a long bike ride or hike and not feel exhausted from the heat.

Maybe this poem will help you appreciate your dreary weather more.

“Praise the Rain”
by Joy Harjo

Praise the rain, the seagull dive
The curl of plant, the raven talk—
Praise the hurt, the house slack
The stand of trees, the dignity—
Praise the dark, the moon cradle
The sky fall, the bear sleep—
Praise the mist, the warrior name
The earth eclipse, the fired leap—
Praise the backwards, upward sky
The baby cry, the spirit food—
Praise canoe, the fish rush
The hole for frog, the upside-down—
Praise the day, the cloud cup
The mind flat, forget it all—

Praise crazy. Praise sad.
Praise the path on which we’re led.
Praise the roads on earth and water.
Praise the eater and the eaten.
Praise beginnings; praise the end.
Praise the song and praise the singer.

Praise the rain; it brings more rain.
Praise the rain; it brings more rain.

VANCOUVER, BC
posted by brookeb at 1:49 PM on May 10, 2020

I live in Scotland, and ownership of a 10,000 lumen lightbox has helped this a lot. I know I can switch it on and get a half hour fix of bright light mood lift whenever I need to, which in turn makes me feel much less despairing of long stretches of grey sky outside. Gotta be the full on, large, bright lightbox though, not those gradual dawn simulators, which I believe have weaker light. And I don't always feel the benefits the first time I use it in a long time - but when I keep it up regularly, switching on that light gives me a significant slab of sunshine feelgoods, which then last through the day, as if the sun's shining inside me and the sky doesn't matter.
posted by penguin pie at 1:51 PM on May 10, 2020

This'll sound crazy but I loved rain when I was a kid, I think because it disrupted the world ruled by adults. Maybe? I dunno. Rain makes me happy and maybe there's really no logic to it. I like the sun okay, I guess. I can definitely appreciate a blue sky.

But despite my love of rain and gray days, I will *still* get into a funk when there are several gray, rainy days in a row. I don't think any amount of philosophy will help with that - but daylight simulators seem to.
posted by bunderful at 2:27 PM on May 10, 2020

Gray skies feel like the equivalent of a weighted blanket for me. They're comforting and cozy-feeling. The sky hangs a little lower and it can feel like you're in a contained little bubble.

On sunny days, there's a sort of pressure to make the most of it by having capital-f Fun, doing epic outside things, don't waste it inside, make sure you appreciate it! But gray days give permission to sit in a cozy cafe and drink tea and journal, or curl up at home and watch a movie with candles burning, or put on some melancholic alternative music and cook up some big meal of comfort food.

And if you do venture out on gray days, you're rewarded with fewer crowds, cooler temps that don't make you sweat at the slightest activity, perfect diffused light for photographs, and brilliant pops of color among the scenery, like the neon orange bouy hanging off the fishing boat or the bright green moss on the rocks.

It helps a lot to have appropriate clothing for the weather and even more if it's stuff that sparks joy. I love my black hunter rain boots and my yellow toggle button rain coat.

Lean into it and reframe it as cozy, calming, a beautiful melancholy to be embraced, as much as those cheerful sunny blue sky days. Just... Differently.
posted by carlypennylane at 2:35 PM on May 10, 2020

White and grey skies are a blank canvas, they do not draw attention to themselves. They're the calmest skies there are. Anything can happen with such a sky as a neutral background.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:53 PM on May 10, 2020

Yes to the diffused light! I’ve lived in Seattle most of my life, and even though I love sunny days too, the weird ...shiny-ness of direct sunlight can be a bit overwhelming and I’ve definitely found that photography is more difficult in blue sky times. The cloud cover is like a big lightbox giving everything a nice soft look, smoothing out shadows and really highlighting the bold purples and reds and greens of plants by giving them a neutral backdrop. And there’s nothing as fashionable as a bright red scarf, for instance, against a grey drizzly day.
posted by zinful at 2:55 PM on May 10, 2020

I am similar to you. I find too many overcast days in a row to be depressing. The warm brightness of a sunny day instantly brings my mood up, while a gray, overcast day often makes me feel dragged out and blue.

I do like the occasional dark gray day, however. There can be a sort of coziness to it, and it is soft and restful to my eyes.

A white sky is the worst of both worlds, both harsh to the eyes and dulling to the mood at the same time.

When the color of the sky has me feeling like crap, I will try to stay in the house with the curtains drawn and all the lights on. Playing upbeat music also helps, and doing whatever other pleasant things I generally do to try and lighten a blue mood and feel more energetic. I make sure I take my vitamins and drink something with a little caffeine to boost my mood. Wearing and looking at bright colors makes me happy so I might pay more attention to that for the day.

If you have to go out you might make sure to wear color where you can see it without a mirror... long colorful scarf, coat or mittens in cold weather; bright jewelry or nail polish or a colorful bag in summer. Even just a cheery background on your phone that you can glance at while commuting. Maybe a special drink you only treat yourself to on overcast day, and upbeat music or a fun podcast playing on your earbuds.

If I'm having to drive with that harsh white sky in view, I pull down the car visors to shield my eyes from the harsh light a bit. I am not a person who generally wears sunglasses, but if I did have somethe harsh white days is when I would pop them on.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 3:00 PM on May 10, 2020

This isn't technically an appreciation, but I find blue-tinted sunglasses make me feel a lot like I'm walking out on a fine day. Been looking into buying a new pair recently for pretty much that reason.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 3:20 PM on May 10, 2020

Overcast skies make for beautiful diffused light which is awesome for photography. This statement is often said at weddings in my social circle.
posted by freethefeet at 3:47 PM on May 10, 2020

I love a grey day - the windier, rainier, cloudier the better. I live in the UK now but grew up in South Asia where the weather is hot most of the time and rainy, chilly days were rare and greeted with such joy - there are so many folk songs dedicated to thunderstorms and cold weather because they are such a relief after the heat and humidity. That association has followed me into adulthood and now even in England, a country with a very different weather profile, those childhood associations of heat being something you would try to avoid and cooler weather being something you wanted to celebrate have lingered with me.

I love hearing the wind whistle and hear the noises the trees make; I always keep the windows open on windy days so that I can feel a little bit of the chill without having to go outside. There's nothing more comforting to me than a cold drizzly day, and me at home on the sofa, tea in hand, with something good to watch on TV. It makes me feel safe and comforted.

As mentioned upthread, sunny days can feel stressful because public spaces are so crowded with people determined to get the most out of the day. Especially in England I feel there is a frenetic kind of desperation to make the most of the weather, with parks and other open spaces absolutely rammed (I refer of course to pre-lockdown times but that is still the association one has with sunny weather). Whereas if you go outside on a chilly and overcast day there are fewer people around and that's a totally different kind of pleasure.
posted by unicorn chaser at 3:48 PM on May 10, 2020

As mentioned upthread, sunny days can feel stressful because public spaces are so crowded with people determined to get the most out of the day.

This! I always feel like going to the zoo on a bright, sunny day... and unfortunately so does everyone else in the universe. Every time we go it is just miserably crowded.

But a couple of years ago we had company who wanted to go to the zoo, and the only day we could go it was overcast and drizzly. So we took our umbrellas and went in spite of the weather and it was the best time we ever had at the zoo. Hardly anyone was there, and it was so nice to be able to look at each exhibit as long as we wanted without feeling like we were hogging the viewing space. At one point our little group of four were the only ones in the primate house and we got to really get a good long look at them! It was so great.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:07 PM on May 10, 2020

JMW Turner created some dramatic and beautiful cloudscapes in his work, whose inspiration he might have found in real life from grey and overcast days of drizzle and mist and those leaden no-colour skies we get so often here. He turned them into something abstract and mysterious, and while the locations varied, they all look like grey English skies to me.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 4:18 PM on May 10, 2020

Yes, overcast skies still have a lot of interesting clouds to look at! Learn about different clouds, see if you can pick out all the different clouds you see every day and join the Cloud Appreciation Society!
posted by thebots at 4:51 PM on May 10, 2020

I do not love shit weather. But the gray really does seem to accentuate the green in greenery.
posted by aniola at 5:14 PM on May 10, 2020

Also it is fantastic for growing a garden. And if you grow a garden, you are more likely to be outside during the 2.3 minutes it's sunny out on a grey day, and that's pretty amazing.
posted by aniola at 5:15 PM on May 10, 2020

Most of the famous works of the Dutch artist Jacob van Ruisdael include grey and cloudy skies. He obviously saw a realism and beauty in the overcast world.

https://www.wikiart.org/en/jacob-van-ruisdael
posted by jacobean at 5:34 PM on May 10, 2020

No one has mentioned the smell. The smell on a drizzly day is amazing. Everything comes to life, dust and pollen be damned.
Get a "soft day," with a little fine mist, and I just take off my glasses and enjoy the feel of the air.
Have you looked at raindrops on a spiderweb lately? Cool, right?
Take a nature walk and really look at the greenery, the structures, the animal tracks in the soft dirt.

Others have mentioned grey skies and photography.
And grey skies and the reduction of skin cancer, cataracts, dehydration, etc.

But let's look at the grey sky and consider what's flying up there. The birds soaring, the insects swirling. It's easier to see the details without the harsh sunlight.

And the clouds, oh my. Watching the sun and moon fade in and out of view, watching the layers from on high as they merge and separate, driving through fog and watching the clouds engulf a hill top or building. It's magical to sit in the passenger's seat and watch layers drift along at different speeds in comparison to the vehicle.

Oh, and sunrises and sunsets with technicolor cloud banks. Just a little seam in the layers and boom, an epic display.

I don't like freezing cold and grey skies, particularly if I have to get out in it, but give me a warm drink and a quilt and I can sit beside the window and watch the clouds all day.
And when the sun comes out, you appreciate it, too. And then you have to find the sunscreen and dark glasses, because -- whoa, sunlight!
posted by TrishaU at 7:18 PM on May 10, 2020

In Iceland, we were told that glaciers show their true blue when it’s cloudy: https://www.hauserfoto.com/blog/2016/3/jokulsarlon-glacier-lagoon-iceland-fine-art-prints
posted by ohkay at 8:11 PM on May 10, 2020

Yeah, I don't like grey skies either but have learned to love them for what they let me do - be outside for hours without discomfort. I've started to associate grey skies with that freedom. Something that helped at first was going out with a camera specifically on grey days and just photographing a lot. That said, staring at the sky on sunny days to take full advantage of it also helps counter any feeling of unending dreariness.
posted by trig at 8:44 PM on May 10, 2020

It’s easier to be productive indoors on grey than on sunny days...

Green does look great against grey, yellow pops...

(Best I got. Not really seeing much that’s not misery on those days. Vitamins D & C, incandescent or halogen lighting, tea or coffee, listening to good radio, that’s what makes it almost endurable)
posted by cotton dress sock at 9:53 PM on May 10, 2020

The Instagram account babilonline is dedicated to outlines of power lines against gray skies. I feel like I now have an improved appreciation for silhouettes formed against overcast sky because of looking at those photos.
posted by rivenwanderer at 10:52 PM on May 10, 2020

Others have mentioned it already but getting more serious about photography really made me appreciate grey, cloudy days. I am naturally a sunshine and blue skies and hot weather person; I’ve always felt I’m not truly awake outside of the months of June, July, and August. However, in the last year or two I’ve had to start learning how to take better/more professional photos, and damn is it easier when it’s cloudy. If you take up photography as a hobby or job you’ll find yourself literally waking up, seeing the sun, and cursing it.

Also, something you’ll notice if you take pics on grey, cloudy days: When you start messing with the HSL in Lightroom or whatever software, you can often bring up a surprising amount of blue sky “hiding” in there. So maybe, if it helps, think of the clouds as just concealing the true blue sky which is there all along even when you can’t see it.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 7:27 AM on May 11, 2020

I'm with you, to be honest. There's something about those flat overcast days that just saps the spirit.

However... as well as the things everyone else has pointed out:

- The sea is at its most atmospheric under a grey sky. This is cheating a bit, because they're black and white photographs, but I think Sugimoto's Seascapes illustrate this beautifully. So do the photographs in Nadav Kander's series Dark Line: The Thames Estuary.

- If you have a point-and-shoot camera, you'll be able to see its screen much better on a dull day than on a bright sunny one.

- Not only can you see the birds in the sky more easily, but some birds are far more active on overcast days than on sunny ones; I know that on a cloudy day at this time of year, I can expect to see uncountably many swallows over a nearby field, while on a sunny day, I'm lucky to see two or three.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 9:32 AM on May 11, 2020

Give the weather a name and a face.

Think of characters you like who would thrive in grey weather. Or gods, if you enjoy mythology. Or animals, if you'd rather.

Then when you look outdoors and it's grey, say to yourself "this is [for example] Jamie from Outlander's kind of weather." Then as you go about your day you become a Scotsman striding robustly through the glens, or Jane Eyre tramping resolutely over the moors in her bustle like a ship in full sail, or Shelley declaiming poetry on a windswept height, or Odin sending the ravens of thought and memory aloft, or a playful otter or a happy fat graceful grey seal or a clever red fox or a thoughtful crow.

Just... have some talismanic person, god or creature to walk at your side through the day.
posted by Pallas Athena at 10:16 AM on May 11, 2020

I think it may be a matter of temperament and you can't talk yourself into loving an incompatible weather. There was a day when I opened up my light-blocking curtains, saw another cloudless and bright blue sky, and burst into tears.

I like wearing sweaters and walking around outside without getting a sunburn. I like how different the clouds look every day. I like sunsets that look like paintings. I like wearing scarves.

Honestly, a lightbox and vitamin D supplements might be more useful than poetry if you need to make peace with incompatible weather.
posted by betweenthebars at 12:06 PM on May 11, 2020

Thank you one and all! Happy (it's sunny today) to see so many reasons to appreciate the grey days! I didn't expect to see so many people casting shade upon the sun!

I'm good with the rainy days and the dark grey cloud - it's the white/light grey, one-colour weirdness I can't face.

I'm aware of the lightboxes but never used them as they cost a million pounds and I didn't think they would work. This is why I wanted to try to appreciate the grey duvet up above - but yes that only goes so far with something that seems very ingrained in my system. Looks like a mixture of both is on the cards.

Thanks again :)
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 12:22 AM on May 12, 2020