How rare is sunshine in Berlin?

Hello! It’s Veronika from the communications team, standing in for our head of design, David. In this Weekly Chart, I take a look at sunshine in Berlin and around Europe.

Staring out the window, I wonder what the rain is trying to tell me about my Weekly Chart choice. I decided to look into the amount of sunshine that the capital of Germany gets throughout the year. There were two reasons: it’s been quite sunny in the past few weeks — we got to see the sun, at least for a moment, nearly every day. The second reason? The dreaded Berlin winter is just ahead.

The winters in Berlin are a running joke. One that even new Berliners hop on almost immediately. I have not been immune to its power. Having seen two or three winters here, I ended up complaining about the gray skies many times. It can be comforting to commiserate with others. It’s something to bond over, a shared source of suffering that makes you feel like you belong.

In the past few weeks, the beautiful sunlit streets full of warm autumn colors made me wonder...

Let’s take a quick, unscientific look at the amount of sunshine Berlin receives compared to other capital cities in Europe. (I picked Europe’s capital cities, because they offer similar lifestyle and opportunities as Berlin does.) Here are a few points I couldn’t help but notice.

The first one probably won’t surprise you:

• Yes, Berlin is at the low end of the sunshine spectrum, and its winters are only slightly sunnier than its Nordic peers, such as Stockholm, Helsinki, Reykjavik, or the Baltic capitals.

But the others might, at least a little:

• The amount of sunshine throughout the year is not too different from other popular cities, like London, Amsterdam, or Paris.

• The seasonal trend is nearly identical to that of Prague, my home country’s capital.

• Compared to other cities, the month that falls furthest below average in terms of sunshine duration is, in fact, April. Not a winter month at all.

• And the summer months? They may seem very bright and sunny in our memories, yet the amount of sunshine plateaus between May and August.

Is it just a case of grass being greener on the other side? Or do even small differences play a big role in our well-being? Do we condition ourselves to expect a depressing season by talking about it? Or is the benefit of a reliable small talk topic more important?

As usual, it’s probably a little bit of everything. Personally, I’ve been trying to be more mindful of the way I think about the world around me, including its challenges. And I do believe that too often, what we expect is what we see.

At the same time, as today’s gray and rainy day so cheekily reminds me, we don’t experience life in historical averages. We don’t compare the weather in our city to weather elsewhere on a daily basis. We’re most affected by what we see and feel. The weather now, today, yesterday, maybe last winter if it was a particularly memorable one.

The overview of last year's daily sunshine is a case in point. The summer days were pretty sunny, including a particularly bright first week of September. On the other hand, seeing so many days in winter marked with 0 minutes of sunshine, or maybe just a few per day, puts the averages and comparisons above in sharp contrast with lived reality.

So, what is my takeaway? I will be more intentional about how I think and speak of the coming season, because really, in the big picture, it’s not that bad. ☺️ But I’ll also take it easy, if a cloudy day (like today) affects me more than I’d like, because we only ever live in the moment. And most importantly, I’ll make sure to say hi to the sun whenever it comes out again! ☀️

That's all I have for today! Next week, whatever the weather, you'll hear from our co-CEO Elana.