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As the author of many climate maps, I’m always drawn to visualizations that highlight how weather and geography interact. One map created by Reddit user Octahedral_cube that shows sunniest places in Europe, recently caught my attention. According to the author, the map is based on averaged annual sunshine hours from meteorological stations across Europe.
The data sources include UN data, ETOPO, and interpolation by IDW at 5-degree resolution. Sunshine maps like this one don’t just reveal where the skies are clear—they visualize the deeper atmospheric, oceanic, and topographic forces shaping climate. I think that from geography class, many people can name the factors that affect sunshine patterns. These factors are as follows:
Latitude: Southern regions, closer to the equator, receive more direct solar radiation.
Ocean currents: The Gulf Stream brings heat and humidity to western Europe, leading to greater cloud cover in areas such as the UK and Ireland.
Prevailing winds: Westerlies transport humid Atlantic air inland, tending to bring cloudiness to western and northern Europe.
Topography: Mountain ranges such as the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathians both direct cloud formation locally and control sun exposure. The foehn effect, for example, may create sunny microclimates in leeward mountain slopes.
Continentality: Interior regions such as southeastern Europe will tend to have more stable weather, clearer skies than over maritime areas.
All these combined factors explain why southern and eastern Europe are generally sunnier than the northwest.
Sunniest Countries and Cities in Europe
Based on long-term meteorological data, the following cities rank among the sunniest in Europe:
City
Country
Average Annual Sunshine Hours
Valletta
Malta
2,957
Marseille
France
2,858
Lisbon
Portugal
2,799
Athens
Greece
2,771
Madrid
Spain
2,769
Monaco
Monaco
2,724
Nice
France
2,724
Tirana
Albania
2,544
Barcelona
Spain
2,524
Podgorica
Montenegro
2,480
These sun-drenched cities, mostly clustered around the Mediterranean basin, enjoy dry summers, high atmospheric pressure, and relatively mild winters — the perfect recipe for long, golden days.
Cloudiest (Least Sunny) Countries and Cities in Europe
Conversely, these European cities receive the lowest average annual sunshine:
City
Country
Average Annual Sunshine Hours
Glasgow
United Kingdom
1,203
Reykjavík
Iceland
1,268
Birmingham
United Kingdom
1,364
London
United Kingdom
1,410
Manchester
United Kingdom
1,416
Dublin
Ireland
1,424
Cologne
Germany
1,504
Vaduz
Liechtenstein
1,517
Brussels
Belgium
1,546
Hamburg
Germany
1,557
Located mostly in northwestern Europe, these cities face frequent cloud cover, damp oceanic air masses, and shorter daylight hours — especially during winter months.
Sunshine Patterns and Climate Change
How might climate change alter this picture? Warmer air holds more moisture, but many models project drier summers in southern Europe and wetter conditions in the north. The IPCC and European projections indicate summer rainfall will decline 8–30% in Southern Europe by mid-century, with increases in winter rainfall for Northern Europe. Less summer rain and cloudiness in the south would actually increase sunshine there. In fact, projections suggest cloud cover will decrease across much of Europe, especially the Mediterranean, by a few percent. Northern Scandinavia may see little change or even slightly more cloud (due to higher humidity and more winter storms), but Southern France, Iberia, Italy and the Balkans are expected to get noticeably fewer clouds. All else equal, that means more surface solar radiation (sunshine hours) in these areas under both moderate (RCP4.5) and high-end (RCP8.5) scenarios.
In a warmer world, the sunny trend likely intensifies in the extreme scenario. Under RCP8.5 (strong warming), Europe will see more frequent clear-sky heatwaves in summer (as already observed), which boosts sunshine. Cleaner air (fewer aerosols) will further brighten skies. Models also show the Azores High and subtropical dry zone expanding slightly northward, reinforcing dry sunny conditions in southwestern Europe. The net effect: by late century, places like Spain, Greece and Italy could average tens of hours more sunshine than today, especially in summer. Northern and Atlantic Europe might see smaller gains (or even slight losses in winter sun) as storm tracks shift.
However, these projections carry uncertainty. Greater humidity and convective clouds in a warming atmosphere could offset some sunshine gains. Some studies find only modest increases (a few percent) in annual sunshine hours even under RCP8.5. In general, though, the consensus is that southern Europe becomes sunnier, reinforcing the map’s pattern, while northern Europe remains relatively dull and cloudier even in a warmer climate.
