By ERWIN CHLANDA

Looking up into the sky and seeing yet another lot of clouds may raise the spectre of Alice losing its place as the nation’s sunniest place.

We have 235.6 clear days, ahead of Port Headland with 232.4 and Coober Pedy 223.2.

But is it all coming to an end? Looking back as far as 1990 the stats suggest something is happening.

The Bureau of Metereology (BOM) logs the amount of sunlight that shines on the Alice Springs airport.

It’s called “global solar exposure” which is the total amount of solar energy falling on a horizontal surface, measured in megajoules per square metre.

Don’t let your eyes glazes over. Think of MJm2s as potatoes and just compare the numbers.

The average over all the 28 years is 21.8, according to BOM.

Between 2020 and 2023 the respective annual averages were 21.5, 21.6, 20.8 and 21.4, a drop of sunshine of 1.4%, 1%, 4.6% and 1.2%.

The “all years” January figure is 26.9. Except for 2021 (27.3) in all other recent five years we were having less sunshine – 26.2, 25.1, 23.7 and 26 this year.

We were doing better in the winter. The “all years” July number is 15.8 while we were getting more than that in three of the five Julys since 2020.

It’s worth keeping an eye on the sky if the NT wants to pursue its enormous opportunities as a solar power provider.

PHOTO: This morning near the airport.