Best city for comfortable sunshine?
July 19, 2007 1:42 AM   Subscribe

What city in the world has the highest number of annual hours of sunshine between temperatures of 15C and 25C (60F and 80F)? (Coz that's where I want to live)
posted by zaebiz to Travel & Transportation (15 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Alentejo region of Portugal was chosen as the site of a massive (11 MW) solar polar plant. The right mix of sunlight and temperature, as far as I can figure, is probably Lagos, Portugal, which is in the Algarve region (bordering the Mediterranean.)

Pages 30-33 in this Portugese report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, from last year, includes a number of charts that show it falling very much within your criteria. Average minimum winter temperature is approximately 7 C, average maximum summer temperature 24 C, with about 2800 sunlight hours per year. If you want more sun, you can continue eastward along the Mediterranean, but it gets a little hotter as you go, of course.

The Tibetan plateaus compete with southern Portugal, California, and Spain for hours of sunlight, but it didn't really seem like what you were looking for. I didn't find any mention of southern hemisphere locations that could come close, either.

Runners up: San Diego, California (sounds beautiful, but you may not want to be in the US); and Cadiz, Spain, which was a bit too hot.

Please invite me over once you move to one of these places.
posted by blacklite at 3:45 AM on July 19, 2007 [1 favorite]


Nelson, New Zealand? 2400 sunshine hours per year (most out of the whole country), has a mean monthly temperature which ranges from 7 degrees C in the winter, up to 18 in the summer . NIWA (NZ climate science institute) data for NZ. Although I suspect the actual perceived temperature will obviously be higher... which might fulfill the temperature requirements?
posted by chrisbucks at 4:07 AM on July 19, 2007


If Lagos isn't too your taste you could try somewhere closer to home ...

According to these stats Blenheim has 2400 hours a year and the temperatures are almost in your range !

Judging by your profile you might not be too far away from your dream city ... maybe we don't know how lucky we are !
posted by southof40 at 4:20 AM on July 19, 2007


chrisbucks you beat me to it (the top of the south island I mean) ..
posted by southof40 at 4:22 AM on July 19, 2007


Every day, all day, sunny? That would be boring for me! I would add in to your equation an ocean / lake view so you can view the weather and changes in water colour / conditions. Also, humidity = bleh.

Having grown up in San Diego on the coast I can attest that it is, indeed perfect.

Both of the places blacklite mentions (Portugal, San Diego) are small areas between ocean and desert - the perfect intersection. There is no humidity. Much of Mexico's Baja California would fit the bill too.
posted by vacapinta at 4:49 AM on July 19, 2007


just a guess ... but you sound like you are looking for somewhere between sydney and melbourne on the south eastern coast of Australia
posted by jannw at 5:22 AM on July 19, 2007


Head north of Sydney. Port Macquarie kicks ass.

(keep in mind thats winter temps on show - other seasonal data is accessible from the same page)
posted by kaydo at 5:41 AM on July 19, 2007


San Jose, Costa Rica, while sadly having regular (you could set your watch to them) daily rain showers between noon and 1:00 PM has blue skies and sunshine the rest of the day. The temperature hovers around 70 to 75F during the day, every day, all year.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:42 AM on July 19, 2007


Cyprus is about as close as I can find. 340 days of sunshine per year, and the average is between 15 and 25 for 6 months of the year (never going below 15) and only barely over for 3 others. The top months are 32, 32, 31.
posted by wackybrit at 6:41 AM on July 19, 2007


Here's a map of sunshine-hours-per-year for NZ.

Perth's climate seems unbeatable.
posted by mdonley at 9:45 AM on July 19, 2007


(Minor point: Portugal faces the Atlantic, not the Med.)
posted by genghis at 9:48 AM on July 19, 2007


Yup, I'd say Portugal as well (of course I would..). Lagos is perhaps one of the nicest cities in the Algarve, but it's still the Algarve.

Instead, look into Lisbon - it has all the cultural and artistic advantages of a capital, as well as a lot of historical interest, etc. It's lovely.

The Alentejo is way too hot in the summer, although if you stick to the coast you might be able to survive. Évora is incredibly beautiful (UNESCO World Heritage site), but Lisbon's closeness to the Atlantic assures moderate temperatures, and, well, beach!
posted by Andorinha at 2:51 PM on July 19, 2007


(Minor point: Portugal faces the Atlantic, not the Med.)

Yeah, sorry, I knew that. It was 4 am and I had been flipping back and forth between maps of Portugal and Spain too much.
posted by blacklite at 7:29 PM on July 19, 2007


I'm seconding Perth, Western Australia. In my opinion, the weather here is unbeatable!
posted by indienial at 10:34 PM on July 19, 2007


nthing somewhere in Australia right here. Mine would be for Brisbane, where it's never cloudy (though we need rain thesedays...) and I've worn sandals and shorts everyday I've lived here (a full year).
posted by shokod at 6:11 AM on July 21, 2007


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