How many inches of rain does Florida get in a year?

If Florida gets so much rain, why does it have a reputation for being sunny?

• Florida is the lightning capital of the USA, and it also gets battered by hurricanes and tropical storms. Parts of it get 60+ inches of rain per year, and the vast majority of it gets at least 50+ inches. That's quite a bit of rainfall. So that leads me to my question. Why does it have a reputation for being sunny, when in reality it is so rainy? Compare it to the northeast and the great lakes. These regions gets 30-45 inches of rain, which is a moderate amount. Why does it have the reputation of being cloudy all the time? Its not like the rain is dispersed in light doses over many days, like it is in Seattle. The northeast gets heavy downpours like Florida does.

• Answer:

  Florida has a humid subtropical climate. This is a rare climate which means that the majority of the time it is sunny blue skies, yet small amounts of time there are torrential downpours and thunderstorms; about 15 minutes a day before the sun comes out again. The humidity (water) in the air makes temperatures unbearable during sunny summers, making temperatures soar to 35C. Huge areas of low pressure in the Atlantic Ocean caused by the humidity form huge, rolling Cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds) that quickly sweep across Florida once per summers day; this causes heavy showers for about 20 minutes or so. This rain is usually so quick and so heavy it makes up the large amount of rainfall. So it is nearly always sunny, but when it rains... it rains heavily!