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Chasing the sun

Posted by bdaley June 29, 2009 08:39 PM

thunder.jpg
((AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

By Beth Daley
Globe Staff

My friend Polly called from Corinth, Vermont on Sunday: Was it sunny where I was? That would be a big no in Providence where I live. And no again a few hours later when I was driving into Hyannis.

She moved on, calling other friends, desperate to find where she could bask – even for a few minutes – in the sun’s warm rays.

Perseverance paid off. Polly found sun, briefly, in St. Johnsbury. And then, of course, the rain started falling.

Perhaps the most annoying part of this endless gray backdrop New England has been painted with is that, with little warning, the sun briefly appears. Tourists coming back from Martha’s Vineyard yesterday bragged they caught a few minutes of rays – as if ten minutes of sun was some sort of New England event that merits celebrating.

On Nantucket, where I worked yesterday, the sun poked through at 7:12 a.m. and then for the afternoon ferry ride back to the mainland – and even part of the drive back to Providence. Yet by 5:30 p.m. the rain started spitting.

“There are sunny breaks in all this but unfortunately sometimes you have to move states to find them…and they don’t last that long,’’ said Alan Dunham, National Weather Service meteorologist. He says the gray weather comes from a series of low pressure systems that is holding moisture over us. The sun comes from periodic breaks in that system.

He cautions against sun chasing.

“You can be in Boston and you just heard it’s sunny in Springfield but by the time you get there, it’s cloudy again.”

Where have you seen the sun? Are you desperate enough to chase it?

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12 comments so far...
  1. Is it me, or has this been going on for weeks and weeks?

    Curious nobody is talking about or offering explanations (El Nino, a volcanic eruption, etc.) for what I hope we'd all agree is very curious weather.

    Posted by Harrybosch June 30, 09 05:28 AM
  1. Not sure what the SUN looks like....

    Posted by am June 30, 09 07:34 AM
  1. The sun has shone brightly Sunday and Monday afternoons in the northern Berkshires. And no rain, just clouds in the mornings. Definitely feel lucky to be vacationing here now.

    Posted by J June 30, 09 07:45 AM
  1. I remember a spring/early summer like this back in 1982. Every single day it was either cloudy or raining, and to top it off, we had gypsy moths everywhere, covering houses, eating all the leaves on the trees, etc. You could hear them crunching! But by the end of June, early July, at least by July 4th, the sun was back out and stayed out for most of the time throughout the summer. Hopefully, that history will repeat itself, well, sans the gypsy moths!

    Posted by Karen June 30, 09 07:59 AM
  1. The sun was out in Waltham at 6 p.m. yesterday. It just happened to be raining buckets at the same time, as a thunderstorm was overhead.

    Posted by Chris June 30, 09 07:59 AM
  1. We have been stuck in a nasty weather pattern that is bringing our weather in from places where it doesn't usually come in the summer. A typical summer pattern would bring us Bermuda Highs (hot, hazy, humid), followed by a cold front from Canada bringing us sunny, dry weather. What we have now is storms coming from the west, then spinning back in over the ocean. Part of it is climate change, part is just bad luck, I expect.
    I did see sun yesterday, as I was getting on the train at South Station.

    Posted by mhc90 June 30, 09 08:29 AM
  1. yes...had to fly down to Phili the other day....the sun was shining bright at about 28,000 ft

    Posted by doesitmatter June 30, 09 08:42 AM
  1. We have been basking in the heat for the past month. Now located in North Carolina, spring actually starts in March or earlier and summer is already cooking by June. Left Massachusetts three years ago, don't miss the long winters and short springs.

    Posted by Gegsr1 June 30, 09 08:52 AM
  1. First we had the winter that never wanted to end. Now we have no spring and a dismal start to the summer. The economy stinks, there are no jobs ... not even my elderly parents are worth staying here for now.

    Posted by LittleEthel June 30, 09 08:57 AM
  1. Cool and wet and great crops. Is this what we'll get with Global warming?

    Posted by Otis June 30, 09 09:46 AM
  1. I'm just ecstatic whenever it's not 90 degrees in the summer!

    Posted by Leigh June 30, 09 10:27 AM
  1. Beth,

    What bothers me more than June's gray overcast -- it was Seattle in Boston -- is when the days become short, and the sun stays low in the sky. Last February I put my office in the car and drove down to northern Virginia for 3 weeks, missing a blizzard, and having the sun as high in the sky as it would be five weeks later. Still, I was relieved when the sun finally stayed out regularly.

    David

    Posted by David Holzman July 18, 09 10:16 PM
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