Michigan is far from a tropical paradise, but the amount of sunshine we've gotten this year so far is way below normal.

Normally we're in the middle of summer by now, soaking up all the sunshine. We have switched from complaining about the cold spring, to how hot it is. That has NOT been the case this year.  Sunny days have been few and far between for all of us in Michigan, and it's a trend that's been going on for a while now.

According to WOOD TV, Michigan has been cloudier than normal for a full year.

So far this month, we've had 49% of possible sunshine. The average for June is 61%. We had the 3rd cloudiest May ever with just 36% sunshine. Average for May is 56%. We had only half of average sunshine in February and less than 1/3rd of average sunshine (just 9%) last November. Every month since last July has been cloudier than average.

It only makes sense that the lack of sunshine definitely impacts our lower than normal temps for Michigan lately. When you add in all of the rain that has been falling in our area, it is the perfect storm for a terrible start to summer.

There is hope that the skies will clear toward the end of June, and warmer temps will come with it. That way the ground can dry up a bit, and make for the summer experience that we have all been waiting for.

Or it just might be rainy until October, when the snow starts to fall.

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