Scientists recreate D-Day cloud cover using satellite imagery

Climate scientists from the University of Reading and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) have used historical weather data to recreate satellite-style imagery of the cloud cover over the English Channel during the D-Day landings in 1944.

The reconstructions reveal that thick clouds covered southern France and the Channel in the early hours of June 6, 1944. However, the imagery shows a narrow window of clearing weather that emerged approximately six hours later, allowing 160,000 Allied troops to proceed with the invasion of Normandy.

Professor Ed Hawkins noted that the timing was critical, stating that “a day earlier, or a few hours either way, and the weather could have stopped the invasion in its tracks and changed the outcome of the war.” The technology used to create these images involved feeding 1944 weather readings into modern reconstruction systems to fill gaps in historical measurements and visualize the sky from space.