Whats the difference between....?

Question

Whats the difference when the weather channel says its going to partly cloudy or partly sunny?

Answer 1

How I understand it is - partly cloudy means more sun than clouds, whereas partly sunny means more clouds than sun.

Answer 2

The visible dome above the horizon is divided in 8 equal parts.

If the total number of clouds in the dome fill upto 3 parts (i.e 3/8 of the dome) it is said partly cloudy.

when the cloud covers more than 3 parts upto 7 parts of the dome it is mainly cloudy.

if the cloud cover exceeds 7 parts then its overcast skies.

when the report says mainly cloudy it means partly sunny

when report says p'ly cloudy it means m'ly sunny.

Answer 3

interesting question...

partly implies that there is only a little of something so partly cloudy means mostly clear and partly sunny means mostly cloudy.

This is interesting because I have often wondered why some weather reports say partly cloudy instead of mostly sunny?

Answer 4

They are...