Sunshine hours: the sunniest cities in the world, month by month

How many hours of sunshine does your city get? Measured sunshine duration 1991–2020 for 2,600 cities, month by month – with a ranking of the sunniest and cloudiest cities.

• Measured sunshine duration from over 2,000 weather stations, 1991–2020 averages – for your city, month by month.
• One city per weather station, cities of 100,000+, 1991–2020 averages.

The sunniest large cities: United Kingdom

• 1. Southend-on-Sea: 1,846 h a year
• 2. Southampton: 1,780 h a year
• 3. Norwich: 1,719 h a year
• 4. London: 1,675 h a year
• 5. Plymouth: 1,673 h a year
• 6. Bristol: 1,654 h a year
• 7. Swansea: 1,644 h a year
• 8. Sheffield: 1,631 h a year
• 9. Edinburgh: 1,575 h a year
• 10. Birmingham: 1,490 h a year

The cloudiest large cities: United Kingdom

• 1. Glasgow: 1,153 h a year
• 2. Belfast: 1,372 h a year
• 3. Aberdeen: 1,448 h a year
• 4. Leeds: 1,488 h a year

The sunniest large cities in the world

• 1. Dubai: 3,610 h a year
• 2. Victoria de Durango: 3,573 h a year
• 3. Abu Dhabi: 3,522 h a year
• 4. Hermosillo: 3,479 h a year
• 5. Kassala: 3,451 h a year
• 6. Iranshahr: 3,410 h a year
• 7. Dammam: 3,391 h a year
• 8. Gaborone: 3,388 h a year
• 9. Zahedan: 3,386 h a year
• 10. Yazd: 3,381 h a year

The cloudiest large cities in the world

• 1. Chengdu: 962 h a year
• 2. Chongqing: 985 h a year
• 3. Sukabumi: 1,082 h a year
• 4. Glasgow: 1,153 h a year
• 5. Tanjung Pinang: 1,172 h a year
• 6. Medan: 1,201 h a year
• 7. Samarinda: 1,275 h a year
• 8. Sungai Penuh: 1,311 h a year
• 9. Limerick: 1,339 h a year
• 10. Huaihua: 1,352 h a year

Questions about sunshine hours

• Which large city in the UK gets the most sunshine? On 1991–2020 averages Southend-on-Sea leads with 1,846 hours a year. The least sun among the large cities goes to Glasgow with 1,153 hours.
• What is the sunniest large city in the world? Among the cities with measurements, Dubai leads with 3,610 hours of sunshine a year – about ten hours every day.
• What counts as an hour of sunshine? In meteorology the sun is shining once its direct radiation exceeds 120 watts per square metre. Weather stations measure it with sunshine recorders or pyranometers.

• Data: Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), sunshine duration climate normals 1991–2020, CC BY 4.0. Possible hours: time between sunrise and sunset.