Sunrise to Sunset
Sunshine Stats
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PICPMB Sunrise to Sunset Sunshine Stats |
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While working as an academic at the University of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), I was afforded the privilege of two six month sabbaticals, one in Melbourne (Australia - Jan to June 1992), and the other in Auckland (New Zealand - Jan to June 2000). Both were wonderful experiences of friendly people and great cities. But, in each instance, I missed the big blue dome that I live under in PMB, especially as winter approached. In both of these cities, the sky gradually turned from blue to grey, and the cloud cover dropped to head height, or so it seemed. Returning home was of course also always great, and made even better when I looked up and the big blue dome was still there, just as it was when I left it.
| PMB | January | February | July | August |
| Perth | January | February | July | August |
| Cape Town | January | February | July | August |
The above comparison is of course unfair, as it only represents two months. It also compares a Mediterranean climate (Perth?), with one that is difficult to label (PMB). The reason behind why I came to make the comparison, had more to do with the webcam we have in PMB, that features on the Weather Underground forecast page for PMB ). I check this page each day to ensure that the webcam images are being uploaded properly i.e., there isn't a fly sitting on the webcam lens. Doing this lead to me to also looking at the corresponding page for Perth each day, and ultimately comparing the monthly displays for the two cities. To see a monthly display, click the corresponding displayed webcam image in either pf these two pages. You may also want to play the sequence of images as a video clip.
Making the comparison, and subsequently others, has satisfied a curiosity I had for some time regarding the amount of sunshine Londoners and Durbanites experienced, as I had once heard that is was not that different. I have now established that on average London gets 4 hours while Durban, 6 hours. Taking it further, I was at first surprised to find out that Cape Town, got 8 hours. But I then thought about it, and it made sense as Cape Town enjoys long mostly cloudless summer days, and short mostly cloudy winter days. When you compare the monthly images for Cape Town in summer, with those for winter, you would be forgiven for thinking that everyone had left Cape Town and gone back to Gauteng (or the UK / Germany), for the winter (summer). If you think I am wrong, please let me know.
If you are intrigued by all this, you may also be interested in the following animated GIF that I came across. It displays the sun shine world wide month by month for a year. Unfortunately I lost the URL of the site from which I lifted the animated gift, and so am unable to acknowledge the work which was done.
robdkznza@gmail.com
