tucson: Will there be less cloud coverage if I live further north or west closer to ocean? Don't want to go into lack of blue sky shock from leaving Tucson. Thanks!|||In the NW we have specific words for rain which you might not be aware of. "Rainy weather" means it rains all day and the sun is not visible. Weather with occasional rain is "showers": that is, intervals of rain mixed with not raining, during which the sky could be overcast, partly clear, or completely clear. Both types of weather are possible any time of the year, though summer is more apt to have clear sky and winter is more likely to be rainy. Spring and fall are most likely to be showery. Being further north or west doesn't improve the cloud cover significantly. There is a rain shadow behind the Olympic Range which moves around, but is most often north of Tacoma to South of Seattle. Close to the coast has more fog and low overcast than being further inland. To increase blue sky, you'd have to be east of the Cascades, though that wouldn't be a practical commute for a Seattle-area job. The Cascades cause orographic lift which leads to adiabatic cooling of the air and heavy precipitation on the mountains. After the air passes over the mountains, it reheats on descent and is much drier. There's a resort near Central Oregon (Kah-nee-tah) which claims 300 sunny days a year.