Irish Skies Forecasts

The Irish Skies Forecasts is an ambitious project by Sryan Bruen Photography dedicated to helping people make the most of Ireland’s ever-changing skies.

Using weather data, cloud forecasts and atmospheric conditions, the aim is to provide accurate forecasts of the best opportunities for colourful sunrises, sunsets, dramatic cloudscapes and exceptional light across Ireland.

While the forecasts are especially useful for photographers looking to plan ahead and chase the light, the project is about much more than photography. It is about encouraging people to look up, appreciate the beauty happening above us and notice the moments that can so easily pass by unnoticed.

Some of Ireland’s most spectacular scenes last only a few minutes. By giving people an early indication of when and where those conditions may come together, Irish Skies Forecasts hopes to turn more of those fleeting moments into experiences people can see and enjoy. Because sometimes you don’t need to travel far to witness something extraordinary, you just need to know when to look up.

These forecasts are only a projection based on the latest available data from the NCEP GFS, ECMWF-IFS and DWD ICON numerical weather prediction models. They will never replace a human’s interpretation of using multiple models to produce a forecast. These forecasts are based on the methodology from my book “Mastering the Prediction of Sunrises & Sunsets” which can be downloaded and read for free here. Whilst it’s impossible to catch every single opportunity that a sky will be colourful due to the chaotic nature of the atmosphere and the weather suddenly changing every minute or second, my methodology will give you a decent indication of getting the very best fiery skies which tend to have a consistent set of conditions to be met of cloud altitude, wind direction, humidity and haze.

There is nuance in the scores. So even though the forecast may say “poor”, you still may get some colours in the sky. The scores are biased to intense fiery reds and orange colours lasting for a significant period of time from mid-level and high cloud but there is also some consideration to low altitude clouds which may light up when the sun is low on the horizon and then suddenly lose colour as the clouds go into Earth’s shadow. More details are found in my book and also in the notes below the forecast map.

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