The Sun Also Rises

Do they still make Sunny D?

In Syracuse, where I spent the first eighteen or so years of my life, it is cloudy for an average of 205 days of the year. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal body in charge of our nation’s weather predictions, this makes Syracuse the eighth-cloudiest city in the United States. In fact, only three cities in the Lower 48 fare worse, and the only one of any considerable size is Pittsburgh¹.

South Bend, where I then proceeded to spend four years of college, is not much better in terms of weather, checking in with an average of 188 days of cloud cover each year. Students at Notre Dame, likely dismayed after relocating from sunnier hometowns, refer to the city’s constant grey as the permacloud, a term that has become such a staple as to be asked about by prospective students on the university’s subreddit and elaborated on at length in the alumni magazine.

Sacramento, where I moved after graduation and currently reside, is a mirror image of Sout…