Cloudiest European Cities
Despite its reputation as a vibrant and friendly place, Glasgow is the least sunny of Europe's major cities, with an average of just 1203 hours of sunshine a year. Glasgow becomes especially cloudy during summer when from June to September it receives less sunshine per month than other European cities.
Here you'll find lists of major European cities with the cloudiest climates, along with the most overcast five cities by region: Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe. The ratings are based on the average hours of sunshine annually.
Surprisingly, another city with relatively little summer sun is Reykjavík, Iceland, which sits at number two spot for Europe's cloudiest cities. Its northern location means Reykjavík doesn't get much sun during the shortest days of winter, and indeed December typically sees 12 hours of sunshine all month. But the city doesn't make up for its winter shortfall during the long days of summer. In June, when daylight lasts 20 to 21 hours a day, Reykjavík averages just over five hours of sun daily. That makes it Europe's second least sunny city in June, after Glasgow.
The rankings are for the 60 major European cities which have sunshine data. The cities include national capitals plus urban areas with a metropolitan population of over one million people. You can also see the full list of European cities and their sunshine totals that these rankings are based on.
| City | Hours of Sun |
|---|---|
| Glasgow, United Kingdom | 1203 |
| Reykjavík, Iceland | 1268 |
| Birmingham, United Kingdom | 1364 |
| London, United Kingdom | 1410 |
| Manchester, United Kingdom | 1416 |
| Dublin, Ireland | 1424 |
| Cologne, Germany | 1504 |
| Vaduz, Liechtenstein | 1517 |
| Brussels, Belgium | 1546 |
| Hamburg, Germany | 1557 |
Cloudiest Cities by European Region
Outside the UK, Iceland and Ireland, even the cloudiest European cities manage at least 1500 hours of sun a year. The most overcast place in Southern Europe is Ljubljana, Slovenia with 1712 sunny hours annually. In Eastern Europe, Saint Petersburg, Russia ranks as the cloudiest at 1636 hours of sun a year.
Overcast skies are common in Glasgow, Europe's cloudiest city.
Western Europe
| City | Hours of Sun |
|---|---|
| Glasgow, United Kingdom | 1203 |
| Birmingham, United Kingdom | 1364 |
| London, United Kingdom | 1410 |
| Manchester, United Kingdom | 1416 |
| Dublin, Ireland | 1424 |
Northern Europe
| City | Hours of Sun |
|---|---|
| Reykjavík, Iceland | 1268 |
| Vilnius, Lithuania | 1588 |
| Oslo, Norway | 1668 |
| Riga, Latvia | 1757 |
| Copenhagen, Denmark | 1780 |
Eastern Europe
| City | Hours of Sun |
|---|---|
| Saint Petersburg, Russia | 1636 |
| Prague, Czech Republic | 1668 |
| Nizhny & Novgorod, Russia | 1712 |
| Moscow, Russia | 1721 |
| Minsk, Belarus | 1758 |
Southern Europe
| City | Hours of Sun |
|---|---|
| Ljubljana, Slovenia | 1712 |
| Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina | 1769 |
| Zagreb, Croatia | 1898 |
| Milan, Italy | 1914 |
| Andorra la Vella, Andorra | 1936 |
Reference
The data are provided by national meteorological agencies.