Ireland has endured a remarkably sunless stretch, with persistent cloud cover blanketing the country and leaving many areas in near-total gloom.

Between 8 and 14 October, sunshine levels fell dramatically below seasonal norms, with some locations recording virtually no sunlight at all.

Satellite imagery from Copernicus revealed a striking anomaly on Thursday, with the only visible break in the cloud occurring over the Irish Defence Forces’ live fire range at the Glen of Imaal in County Wicklow. The rest of the country remained under a thick veil of grey.

Met Éireann confirmed that two of its synoptic stations, Shannon Airport and Valentia Observatory, did not register a single minute of sunshine during the week. The lack of sunlight is being attributed to a dominant anticyclonic weather pattern, which has brought settled but heavily overcast conditions.

Johnstown Castle in Wexford recorded just 12 minutes of sunshine, amounting to a mere 1 percent of the average for this time of year. Claremorris in County Mayo fared slightly better, with 1.1 hours of sunshine, or 4 percent of the norm.

Ireland’s weather will turn increasingly unsettled over the coming days as high pressure slips away and Atlantic systems take charge.

Friday will stay mostly cloudy and dry, apart from isolated patches of mist or drizzle. Rain will move in from the southwest on Saturday, becoming heavy and thundery at times and bringing a risk of localised flooding, particularly in southern and western counties.