FEELING GLOOMY? DON’T worry it’s not just you, there has been very little sunshine breaking through the wall of cloud hanging over Ireland over the past week or so, especially in Dublin, which has had none.

If you’re living in Dublin (or indeed much of the country, particularly the east) you’ll surely have noticed that consistent block of grey sitting above your head.

The weather service’s Agricultural Data Report for the past seven days shows that the Dublin Airport weather monitoring station has had 0.0 hours of sunshine, which is far below normal levels. The weather station has also recorded 32% more rain than is normal. So it has been a grim month all round.

(Other weather stations in the capital may have seen some sunshine, but Dublin Airport is the only one that records it in the county.)

According to weather photographer Sryan Bruen, Dublin Airport has only ever recorded nine consecutive days without sunshine three times since records began.

9 consecutive sunless days now at Dublin Apt. Has happened only 3 times on record. pic.twitter.com/SA3l4oSou5

— Sryan Bruen (@SnowbieWx) February 17, 2025

Other stations in the east and south east of the country have also recorded very little sunshine. Johnstown Castle in Co Wexford got just 0.2 hours in the last seven days.

However, the weather is a lot brighter in the west (for once, says you) with Belmullet in Mayo getting 14.2 hours of sunshine over the last seven days, 87% the normal rate.

The same is true for the south west. Sure, just look at the image below from west Kerry last Friday!

Costa del sol, Ballydavid , County Kerry today. "...Anois teacht an Earraigh beidh an lá ag dul chun síneadh ..... pic.twitter.com/B8N6xeqcY6

— Fergus O'Dowd (@Fergusodowd) February 14, 2025

The reason for the gloom

So what’s the reason for all this grey, and will it ever end, you ask? 

According to Matthew Martin, a meteorologist with Met Éireann, an easterly air flow has been moving over the country over the last week or so, which is to blame for the build up of cloud.

The cloud builds up on the Irish sea and then moves in over the country, with the east getting the worst of it.

“Basically over the last week we’ve had an easterly air flow moving over the country,” he said.

“A lot of cloud built up over the Irish sea and brought gloomy and cloudy conditions.”

According to Alan O’Reilly from the Carlow Weather social media account, “the weather patterns have left us under cloud”.

“It’s not that unusual to get under cloud but the fact it’s constant is unusual,” he said.

There are different weather patterns currently in place over the country, which has resulted in areas of high pressure in the north east and low pressure to the west. This means that the east in particular is getting trapped under the “outer cloud” of the high pressure system. This, coupled with the easterly air flow, has meant consistently grey days.

So, will the east of the country ever see sunshine again?

“We’re kind of changing the air flow, to a south or south west flow so it’s going to be cloudy and there will be rain at times,” Martin said of the coming days.

He said the weather will “remain unsettled” but there will be more “fresh bright and breezy weather” later in the week.

O’Reilly said there is some unsettled stormy weather to come in the next few days, but “Saturday looks like we might see some good sunny spells for many areas”.

According to the latest forecast, cloudy, windy wet weather will be in place for most of the week, but sunnier spells should start to break through by Thursday or Friday.

So it will get worse before it gets better. But hold tight. The sun will shine again.