Published: 00:01 BST, 27 August 2026 | Updated: 00:01 BST, 27 August 2026
Thick cloud hung over France and the Channel on the morning of D-Day as one of the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasions in history got underway, new images reveal.
Scientists have turned weather records from 1944 into a recreation of what the world might have looked like from space as 160,000 troops stormed the beaches of Normandy.
It shows cloud stretching across Britain and much of the Channel with patches of southern England and northern France starting to peek through, indicating the sky was clearing.
And just in time – as the mission could have failed if the storm had not eased off.
The weather was crucial to the success of D-Day because the Allied invasion force relied on a rare combination of conditions, including low tide, moonlight and relatively calm seas.
Professor Ed Hawkins, climate scientist at the University of Reading, co-created the images with scientists from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
'Troops set off into a sky that was still breaking up after days of storms into a narrow window of better weather,' he said.
'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.'
In the early hours of June 6 1944, thick cloud covered southern France and the Channel (left). Pictured: A recreation of cloud cover at midnight
However, there was a small break in the clouds later that morning, allowing the Allied forces to mount a successful invasion. Pictured: The clouds clearing six hours later
On the advice of military planners and meteorologists, D-Day was initially set for June 5.
More than 5,000 ships carrying troops, tanks and supplies were assembled in southern England, ready to launch the largest amphibious invasion in history.
In the days leading up to it, Allied commanders anxiously monitored weather forecasts as powerful storms battered the English Channel.
The stormy weather forced General Dwight D. Eisenhower to postpone the landings by 24 hours.
