How Many Sunny Days Left In Kalamazoo For 2020

You are probably not aware of this but the southwest Michigan area is privy to what maybe the only device that measures sunshine in the country. It is called a "shade-ring pyranometer". Now keep in mind I'm not a meteorologist, I only play one on the radio, so I'm not at all capable of explaining to you how it works. I can tell you, there is some science behind it.

So before we get to our prediction or as I like to call it...best guess, lets look at some averages for our area. Yep, its time for some math and some law of averages luck. Here we go-

Climate facts about SW Michigan:

Cloudiest months for SW Michigan = December and January (tied)

Sunniest Months for SW Michigan = July

Average sunshine for the month of December = 19.4%

Average sunshine for the month of July = 73.5%

Average annual days of sunshine for SW Michigan = 161

Average amount of annual snowfall in SW Michigan - 60 inches

Average amount of annual rainfall in SW Michigan = 36 inches

So we take the average sunshine divide it by the average snowfall. Subtract the annual days of sun, carry the rainfall. Then multiply the sunniest months while factoring in the percentage of sunshine for the month of December...carry July...and the answer looks something like this:

v+(xw-)-->x2-squared--->xa=(p2x)--->7 mil

YIKES!! Maybe I should break down this mathematic equation into a much more simple form...

There are 31 days in the cloudiest month of the year. We haven't had that major storm we are always guaranteed to get nor have we had that miserable combination rain/snow week yet - you know the one, where Michigan can't make up its mind for a week what weather condition should dominate.

So factoring in all that - I will boldly state we have only 71/2 days of Sunshine left in the year 2020. Cool thing is, even if I'm wrong, like a weatherman, I won't lose my job.