A rare cloud-free day in the United Kingdom and Ireland is shown in this true-color or natural-color corrected reflectance image from April 2, 2025. The image was acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the joint NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) platform.
England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are often shrouded in cloud as these islands have a lot of cover due to the surrounding abundance of moisture. According to a 2012 study based on MODIS data, the probability of cloud-free skies on any given day over Great Britain is 21.3 percent, with a maximum probability of 33.3 percent in November and 12.9 percent in March. Read more about rare fair skies in the UK and Ireland at NASA's Earth Observatory.
Visit Worldview to visualize near real-time imagery from NASA's ESDIS; find more imagery in our Worldview weekly image archive.