While scrolling through the USA Today app on my phone, a pictorial entitled “US cities that get the least sun, from Seattle to Pittsburgh” caught my eye. However, there seemed to be a glitch with the app. There were no captions with any of the 30 photos, so it was difficult to discern which cities I was looking at. I continued through, just to see if Chicago would show up. It did not, but there was one photo that was immediately recognizable to me; Watertown, New York, which came in 12th on the list. Having lived in Watertown-Fort Drum for more than two years, I can attest to the lack of sunshine. There are significantly more gray days than sunny days.
What I really liked is that the picture they used is a photo of the Crystal Restaurant. It is the oldest restaurant in Watertown. It sits in the heart of Watertown’s Public Square among many empty storefronts. Like a lot of small towns across America, the city center of Watertown has deteriorated due to shopping plazas, big box stores and chain restaurants built on the outskirts of town. However, the Crystal Restaurant has stood the test of time. I did not go there often, but I liked it once-in-awhile. It was low key cafe, so if I wanted to have maybe just a soup and sandwich for dinner, drink a beer and read a book, the Crystal was always a good choice.
I have added an internet link (below) that does have the captions for the photos. Cloud cover seems to be a weather issue in much of up-state New York. Other New York cities that made the list are: Ithaca (6), Utica-Rome (7), Binghamton (8), Elmira (11), Syracuse (13), Glens Falls (16) and Albany (28).
The other weather phenomenon that I experienced in Watertown-Fort Drum was wind. The wind blew strong and often, be it rain, snow or just a cloudy/windy day. Spring (March and April) of my second year in the area was the cloudiest, windiest spring I’ve ever seen. I am pretty sure we did not see the sun for two months straight. One Saturday morning, when I arrived at the gym at Fort Drum for racquetball, I opened my car door and a gust of wind caught the door. It blew the door with such force that it knocked the hinges out of alignment leaving it unable to close. It was a rental, and the nearest rental agency was in Syracuse, 75 miles to the south. I had to call a tow truck and ride in the truck down to Syracuse to get the car replaced. Another memory I have is Hurricane Sandy. Fortunately, Watertown did not get the brunt of that storm. However, for a couple of days, we had non-stop gale force winds as the back end of the storm rolled westward off the Adirondack Mountains. Fort Drum closed all non-essential buildings. Not being deterred, the racquetball rats decided that we would play in Watertown at the Fairgrounds YMCA. The YMCA is a large sheet metal structure. The racquetball courts were like two boxes placed inside the building. (You can see the courts at the far end of the photo with the cardio machines.) While we were playing, the wind was so strong that I thought for sure the flimsy sheet metal building was going to collapse on us. Fortunately, it did not and there was no major damage anywhere in Watertown.
I noticed a couple other of my favorite cities made the list; Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota. Living in Chicago and Watertown and traveling extensively around the Great Lakes region for close to four decades has made me appreciate the beauty of overcast days. Summer being the exception, I do like the gray days, particularly when I am driving long distances.