Colorado is mostly sunny, but less than 250 days per year

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Colorado often touts "300 days of sunshine per year." In fact, it has almost become part of the identity of the state.

But is it true, or is it something the local chamber of commerce uses to its advantage?

Tom Magnuson with the National Weather Service says "no" to the 300 days.

A special sunshine switch and a measure of cloud cover per day proves that the Front Range of Colorado does in fact see a good share of sun -- just not as much as people say.

The weather service defines cloud cover less than 80 percent as clear to partly cloudy.

Given that definition, Colorado only measures 245 days of sunshine per year.

Very often, the higher elevations will see part of the day as sunny, with mostly cloudy to nearly overcast conditions in the afternoon. The sun can be present for an hour or so before hiding behind the clouds.

Given this less technically observed definition, one could argue that the Front Range of Colorado does, in fact, have 300 or more days of sun.

Worth noting is that Colorado is not the only state or place to make this claim. Other states, even countries, will claim to have 300 days of sunshine per year.

So even though Colorado enjoys a high amount of sunshine days per year, it technically does not get the 300 days that many people often claim.

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