June 2009 is the second dimmest month (and the sixth coldest June) on record at the Blue Hill Observatory, in Milton, which has weather data going back to 1885, the longest continuous record in North America. Its pyroheliometer records sunshine by means of a glass sphere that burns a line on a card when the sun is shining. This month has had less sun in the Northeast than any June since 1903, when the sun was out less than 25 percent of daylight hours. The clouds and rain that have plagued us put the sunshine last month at 27 percent of daylight hours.

In addition, the month is one of the five dimmest months of all, out-un-shining almost all those Novembers, Decembers and Januaries. June 2009’s record is an even greater achievement (if that’s the right word) because June, the time of the summer solstice, is the month with the most daylight.

Weather gurus call cloudiness albedo, and increased albedo is thought by some to be a way that the earth regulates temperature. There are other factors, such as the cyclical cooling of sea-surface temperatures in the tropical oceans, volcanic eruptions that shoot millions of tons of sulfuric dioxide into the atmosphere, and the intensity of the sun’s radiance, that may also play a role.

Of perhaps greater concern is the persistent low pressure in the Northeast. The barometer seems stuck below 30 inches. As the hurricane season develops, this may cause some storms to favor a more northerly track than in recent seasons, when they have generally stayed to the south. Hang on.