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<p>Hmmm . . . Curious statement. I’d say Ann Arbor and Ithaca are both among the grayer places in the country, though Ithaca probably beats out Ann Arbor for grayer by a nose.</p>
<p>NOAA long-term weather records don’t seem to have much for these towns in particular, but we can extrapolate from nearby cities.</p>
<p>NOAA shows Detroit with 51% of days with sunshine–compared to, e.g., Phoenix with 85%, Los Angeles 73%, Honolulu 71%, Miami 70%, Denver 69%, even Minneapolis-St. Paul 58%.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the cities closest to Ithaca–Syracuse and Binghamton, NY–show 46% and 49% days with sunshine, respectively. So it seems likely that Ithaca is marginally grayer than Ann Arbor. </p>
<p>And the difference is biggest in winter. November-December-January-February-March show 26-25-33-39-46% sunny in Syracuse and 32-29-37-42-46% sunny in Binghamton, versus 35-31-40-46-52% sunny in Detroit. So definitely more winter sun in southeast Michigan than in central upstate New York. But neither place is going to win awards for winter sun. On the other hand, neither is as gray as Seattle (43% of days with sunshine annually) or Anchorage (41%) or Juneau (39%). Even Pittsburgh is cloudier (45% of days with sunshine).</p>