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.

Hours of sunshine a year on average for Europe's ten cloudiest major cities
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.

Dark clouds hang over Galsgow, UK

Overcast skies are common in Glasgow, Europe's cloudiest city.

Western Europe

Annual hours of sun on average for Western Europe's five least sunny cities
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

Annual hours of sun on average for Northern Europe's five least sunny cities
City Hours of Sun
Reykjavík, Iceland 1268
Vilnius, Lithuania 1588
Oslo, Norway 1668
Riga, Latvia 1757
Copenhagen, Denmark 1780

Eastern Europe

Annual hours of sun on average for Eastern Europe's five least sunny cities
City Hours of Sun
Saint Petersburg, Russia 1636
Prague, Czech Republic 1668
Nizhny & Novgorod, Russia 1712
Moscow, Russia 1721
Minsk, Belarus 1758

Southern Europe

Annual hours of sun on average for Southern Europe's five least sunny cities
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.

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