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Thursday, May. 16, 2024

Does Colorado get 300 days of sunshine per year?


no

While Colorado sees sunny skies for more than two-thirds of the year, the state falls short of 300 days of sunshine. 

In 2020 the Denver area had 115 days where the sky cover was considered fair, 208 partly cloudy days and 43 cloudy days, according to a 2020 National Weather Service annual climate summary.

The National Climatic Data Center ranked U.S. cities based on annual possible sunshine through 2004 using several years of data. Using 46 years of climate data, the center found that Denver ranked 30th with the sun shining 69% of days every year — or about 252 days. Two Colorado cities ranked higher but did not break the 300 day mark, either.

In Pueblo, 76% of days were sunny while Grand Junction boasted 71% of days with sunshine.

See a full discussion of this at The Colorado Sun

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