That's a new one on me. You might try contacting the local Public Radio station. They do a short weekly segment about nature and the environment of the local area and an occasional call-in program where interesting questions like yours are asked and usually answered.

The link below is to their Natural Selections program page and there is an email link to "suggest a topic." The folks at the station are always friendly and helpful.

By the way, where is "the sunniest village in new york state?"

Wayne

Here is a link that might be useful: North Country Public Radio

that's a great idea,wayne. thanks! i'm lucky enough to be able to tune in to north country public radio here,and i've been listening for almost two years. haven't caught that program,but since i can only listen while in the truck,that's not suprising. i will absolutely contact them. meanwhile,,the farmer who told me about the cloud belt is backpeddling just a wee bit. turns out the cloud belt that he's noticed is a good hour east of our land,,sure hope that makes the difference!
anyway,the local bell telephone building in my hometown proudly sported solar panels on it in the very early seventies,,with a sign that explained that this location had been selected after it had been determined that it was the sunniest village in n.y.s.
that village is cutchogue,in the township of southold,on the north fork of eastern long island. once famous for potatoes and broccoli,now home to fancy wineries and million dollar homes. sure wish dad hadn't sold our waterfront home in the eighties!!!!

I live in Malone.... The weather here all summer and Fall has been totally crappy. If you look north to the St.Lawrence there is always clear blue skies over Massena way and it is pouring rain here in Malone. I don't know if the St. Lawrence River has anything to do with that or not but the patch of clear sky seems to follow it. There have been few sunny ( perfect) days that I can remember this year. However last summer was excellent. We had many sunny HOT days and last fall was very nice. Every vacation I took this year it rained. I said "oh no it can't possibly rain every day of my vacation..." boy was I wrong. I guess if you are planning on living around here plan many rainy day activities.