The Wettest Capitals in Europe Are...

The popular Travis song isn’t about rain. But isn’t this a question every Brit poses when it’s raining?

Quiz yourself a bit. When was the last time you talked about the weather? Yes, it was today.

The Brits talk about the weather a lot. A study conducted last year showed that an average Brit spends the equivalent of four and a half months of their life talking about the weather.

Londoners swear that their weather is dreadful. London has a reputation of a rainy city, a metropolis in which you can always get wet. When you listen Londoners talk about it, you imagine people that walk around in wellies, raincoats, always holding on to an umbrella.

Is London really cursed with raindrops?

A list of Wettest Capitals in Europe

We checked how damp are other European capitals. And we were surprised.

London isn’t even near to proclaiming itself the wettest capital in Europe by the annual amount of rain. With its 557mm of rain per year, the city holds 35th place on the list.

More than in London, it rains even in Barcelona (640 mm), Istanbul (805 mm) and in Rome (799mm).

The wettest capital on the old continent isn’t even in the north. The capital of Monte Negro, Podgorica, sits on the wet throne of Europe with 1661mm of rain per year.

That’s three times the rain we have in London.

Podgorica is followed by Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana that has 1368mm of rain per year, and the third place is held by another capital close to Adriatic coast, Tirana in Albania - 1219 mm of rain.

The data is provided by national meteorological agencies and collected by Current Results.

It Doesn’t Even Rain all the Time in London

London failed to justify its reputation of a wet city with annual rainfall averages. But we all know that London rain is there, always hovering above us.
One minute you’re dry and the other you’re in the middle of a shower.

So we looked into the number of rainy days in a year. London is still not up to its wet reputation with its 109 rainy days in a year (which means that it rains only 29.8% of the time).

19 European capitals have even more rainy days. In Brussels, it rains more than half the time. The Belgians have 199 of rainy days a year, it rains 54% of the time there.

Less than in Brussels, but still enough to hold the second place, it rains in Reykjavik. The Icelanders have 148 rainy days a year. One day of rain less have the Swiss in Bern, 147 days.

London, the Sunless Capital

So, London isn’t so rainy after all. But there must be a reason for all that weather grumpiness. And there is.

London is a sunless city with just 1410 sunny hours a year. The only European capital that has less bright hours is Reykjavik.


Even Dublin is sunnier than London. The Irish beat us with 14 hours more, but still, they are shinier.

You don’t need an expert to tell you that you feel better when it’s sunny even though there are a lot of researches on the topic.

The secret behind good mood and sunshine lies in a chemical reaction. When we are exposed to sun rays, light enters the eye and stimulates the production of neurotransmitter serotonin known as a natural upper.

Of course, too much sun makes most of the Brits miserable. Just remember how we react to summer heatwaves or the sunburns the palest of us get at that sunny vacations.

"There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes", it’s a Norwegian saying. Maybe you can remember it the next time you complain about the weather. And make sure your jacket is excellent.