Sunglasses for Cloudy Days?

Imagine this; you go out for a walk on a muggy and cloudy day and find that it’s not bright enough for sunglasses, even though it’s humid out. You’ve got your shorts on, t-shirt, some comfy running shoes and you take a few laps around the block to get some fresh air. Later that night you come home and find that your skin is hot and red. You got a cloud burn! The deceptive cloudy weather left you vulnerable, and the sun’s UV rays toasted you! As a Santa Barbara native I’ve fallen victim to this many times, especially in the April to June gloom months. We are so lucky to live in a place that is temperate almost year round, however we sometimes forget how easy it can be to forget the sunblock on overcast days. 

Those same UV rays can be just as harmful to our eyes as they are to our skin. UV light causes protein degradation and cell damage. The most common source (the  ONLY source for most of us) of UV light is sun exposure. The risk for the development of cataracts and retinal damage is heightened when we don’t protect our eyes. Cell damage can lead to melanoma (skin cancers) as well as cause cosmetic damage and induce wrinkles and dark spots especially on areas with thinner skin such as our eyes and the tops of our hands. Check out more information about eye diseases and tremtments on our overview of common ocular diseases page. 

We have to protect our eyes even on cloudy days. I know I’m not too keen on wearing my extra dark sunglasses on a cloudy day, as it can impair my vision and clarity. The work around are hi-contrast tinted lenses. They provide enough brightness on overcast days where a typical grey lens would be too dark, and allow for important UV protection. Generally, my favorite high contrast sunglass lenses for Santa Barbara are pink/rose, green, and yellow. I’ll go over the top sunglass choices for cloudy days, and even link to some that you can check out in our online store. 

Best Sunglasses Styles for Santa Barbara Overcast

Pink/Rose: Pink or Rose sunglass lenses can increase the contrast of greenery and foliage. By filtering out blue light, these lenses can brighten our view on cloudy overcast days. Activities like cycling or golf can be optimized by using a pink/rose tint on your lenses. Oakley and Maui Jim have been heralded as superior choices for these activities because of their patented “Prizm” and “Maui Rose” technologies. (Here is an example from our online shop https://shop.gvoptical.com/collection/sunglasses/vera-wang-v481/henna-fade) 

Green: Green makes the list due to its versatility in low and hi brightness conditions. Green lenses typically start with a Gray base coat and then have yellow added to it to provide that contrast we need for gloomy days. Green or G15 lenses are the original Pilots lens of choice because of how dark they can be. The yellow tinge in the lenses allow us to filter out some blue light as well, which makes for a more crisp image. Ray-Ban and Persol are known for their classic green glass lens, but if you’re after something that performs better on cloudy days, we might consider a less dense hue than the old school blackout lenses. 

Yellow: I briefly mentioned yellow sunglasses in the above paragraph because it is a component of the green lens. Yellow on its own is the lightest of the 3 colors I’ve mentioned, but it still serves as a UV protection pair. Yellow lenses were popularized by sharpshooters and marksmen because they reduce glare and UV. They are even usable at night, making them one of the only tinted lenses suitable for night driving.

Final Thoughts 

Sunny Santa Barbara weather comes and goes through the spring months. This year, we are left with way more rainy and gloomy days than I would prefer. Sunglasses on gloomy days allow us to protect our eyes from “cloud-burn” and can even affect our mood by brightening up the surrounding gloom. While summertime might necessitate your more conventional dark sunglasses, make sure you consider protecting your eyes on days where it may seem unconventional. Doing so might spare your eyes.

Questions? Come see me at GV Optical in Goleta or Santa Barbara. Give us a call at 805-967-1012. We have licensed dispensing opticians on staff and can customize any pair of eyeglasses and lenses you can think of!