PARTLY CLOUDY VS. PARTLY SUNNY

Written by: Brian Neudorff

Earlier this week we received this email question from a viewer, "Please explain the difference between 'partly sunny' and 'partly cloudy.' They seem like the same thing."

This person is right, they are the same thing, with the one difference being you can't use partly sunny at night because of the lack of sun. I tend to use the National Weather Service definition of partly cloudy or partly sunny when 38% to 63% of the sky is covered with clouds.

% of Cloud Cover	Term
0-12	Sunny/Clear
13-37	Mostly Sunny/Clear
38-63	Partly Sunny/Cloudy
64-87	Mostly Cloudy
88-100	Cloudy

You can also see this on a page here: Partly Cloudy vs Partly Sunny?