Purely for completeness, I’ll go ahead and represent the opposite preference: I am noticeably energized by overcast days, and I enjoy rain. Long, unbroken sequences of sunny days feel oppressive to me. I think my ideal week would be overcast 4 days, medium-light rain 2 of those days, and sunny on the remaining 3 days for evaporation & variety.
Of course, I realize that pluviophiles are a small minority, so any community/subcultural hub in a chronically cloudy place will suffer an excess SAD burden.
And it’s not just the number of overcast days that is a problem. Bellingham is very far north—enough so you get significant swings in day length between summer and winter—that is great in the summer, it is still broad daylight out at 11pm at night—but winter days are really short. Sunset is around 4:30, or earlier, from mid-Nov to mid-Jan. The sun has gone down before you get off work. Here is a link to sunrise-sunset data for Bellingham https://sunrise-sunset.org/us/bellingham-wa/2020/10.
I think I like rain and overcast days (though I’ve never lived in a place like Seattle or London, so maybe I’m underestimating how annoying I’d find it).
Separately, I suspect that my productivity takes a dive when there are fewer daylight hours: my brain wants to say ‘the day is over’ when the sun starts setting, which is not ideal if that’s at 5pm.
Purely for completeness, I’ll go ahead and represent the opposite preference: I am noticeably energized by overcast days, and I enjoy rain. Long, unbroken sequences of sunny days feel oppressive to me. I think my ideal week would be overcast 4 days, medium-light rain 2 of those days, and sunny on the remaining 3 days for evaporation & variety.
Of course, I realize that pluviophiles are a small minority, so any community/subcultural hub in a chronically cloudy place will suffer an excess SAD burden.
And it’s not just the number of overcast days that is a problem. Bellingham is very far north—enough so you get significant swings in day length between summer and winter—that is great in the summer, it is still broad daylight out at 11pm at night—but winter days are really short. Sunset is around 4:30, or earlier, from mid-Nov to mid-Jan. The sun has gone down before you get off work. Here is a link to sunrise-sunset data for Bellingham https://sunrise-sunset.org/us/bellingham-wa/2020/10.
I think I like rain and overcast days (though I’ve never lived in a place like Seattle or London, so maybe I’m underestimating how annoying I’d find it).
Separately, I suspect that my productivity takes a dive when there are fewer daylight hours: my brain wants to say ‘the day is over’ when the sun starts setting, which is not ideal if that’s at 5pm.