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I’ve always wondered about this. I have fair skin, and I tend to burn somewhat easily in very sunny environments like the beach. However, I’ve never gotten so
by senordevnyc 2mo ago
I’ve always wondered about this. I have fair skin, and I tend to burn somewhat easily in very sunny environments like the beach.
However, I’ve never gotten so much as a whisper of sunburn / suntan / anything on an actually cloudy day where sun wasn’t hitting me directly. Is the damage a different type that’s imperceptible? Or is this a public health comms strategy where they assume people will see a single cloud in the sky and decide it’s fine to skip sunscreen, so they talk about how you should slather yourself with sunscreen 24/7, even if the sun is obscured?
- ashf023 2mo agoI think the point is just about temperature. I've experienced this out on lakes in the northern US for example. It's sunny but not like a tropical beach, and maybe even a little chilly. But you'll definitely get burnt without sunscreen
- philsnow 2mo agoPeople who are new to skiing/snowboarding are often surprised that their faces get sunburned, because of course it's cold and so how could they get burned
- rootusrootus 2mo agoAnd snow makes it worse by reflecting.
- esseph 2mo agoGeography has a lot to do with it as well. Proximity to the equator, altitude, etc.
- kaikai 2mo agoI’ve gotten visibly sunburned on cloudy/foggy days, where it was completely overcast. You may have gotten lucky.
- rootusrootus 2mo agoIIRC, certain types of hazy high clouds can actually make the UV exposure worse. Personally, I got the worst sunburn of my life on a cloudy day.
- Insanity 2mo agoThe damaging part of sunlight is the UV (Ultraviolet) spectrum. This penetrates clouds more easily than the visible-spectrum light. So sun obscured != low UV. It will block some of it though.
- matsemann 2mo agoOr your behavior is different on a cloudy day? More covered in clothes, not sitting still in the sun at the beach all day etc.