Average Sunshine for US Cities in May

The tables below pull together figures on the amount of sunshine each of the largest cities in the United States usually has in May.

The % Sun number measures the percentage of time between sunrise and sunset that sunshine reaches the ground. Total Hours is the average number of sunny hours the city normally has this month. Clear Days is the average number of days this month when cloud covers at most 30 percent of the sky during daylight hours.

Hours of sunshine are the means calculated for 1961 to 1990. The other data are averages taken from years of weather watching.

Average sunshine in May
% Sun City Total Hours Clear Days
68 Atlanta, Georgia 289 9
56 Austin, Texas 227 6
56 Baltimore, Maryland 255 8
66 Birmingham, Alabama 283 8
58 Boston, Massachusetts 267 6
56 Buffalo, New York 258 6
67 Charlotte, North Carolina 292 8
58 Chicago, Illinois 282 7
57 Cincinnati, Ohio 250 6
58 Cleveland, Ohio 264 6
56 Columbus, Ohio 243 6
57 Dallas, Texas 258 8
64 Denver, Colorado 290 6
61 Detroit, Michigan 276 7
90 Fresno, California 18
56 Grand Rapids, Michigan 7
57 Hartford, Connecticut 259 6
72 Honolulu, Hawaii 7
62 Houston, Texas 249 6
% Sun City Total Hours Clear Days
60 Indianapolis, Indiana 265 7
70 Jacksonville, Florida 304 9
61 Kansas City, Missouri 285 8
88 Las Vegas, Nevada 388 18
66 Los Angeles, California 10
60 Louisville, Kentucky 263 8
69 Memphis, Tennessee 302 8
72 Miami, Florida 301 6
60 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 276 7
61 Minneapolis, Minnesota 295 7
60 Nashville, Tennessee 262 8
62 New Orleans, Louisiana 279 9
61 New York, New York 257 8
66 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 295 9
57 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 245 6
93 Phoenix, Arizona 401 21
50 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 217 5
% Sun City Total Hours Clear Days
57 Portland, Oregon 276 5
58 Providence, Rhode Island 255 6
59 Raleigh, North Carolina 258 8
66 Richmond, Virginia 288 7
59 Rochester, New York 267 6
90 Sacramento, California 406 17
72 Salt Lake City, Utah 322 9
56 San Antonio, Texas 222 6
59 San Diego, California 251 8
72 San Francisco, California 14
56 Seattle, Washington 254 4
59 St. Louis, Missouri 267 7
75 Tampa, Florida 315 11
92 Tucson, Arizona 20
60 Tulsa, Oklahoma 8
62 Virginia Beach, Virginia 272 8
58 Washington, DC 261 7
Reference

National Climatic Data Center. Comparative Climatic Data.

World Data Center for Meteorology. Climate of the World.

US City Sunshine
Back to Top