An average but dry March!

March 2008 turned out to be a dry month with only 15.0mm of rain at Balzan compared to the average of 36.2mm. This was only 41% of the average. There were only 8 days of rain and the highest 24 hour rain total was just 5.0mm.

Temperature-wise, March 2008 was just slightly warmer than the average, with the mean monthly temperature of 14.8°C being 0.3°C above average. The warmest day was on the 15th when the maximum temperature went up to 21.3°C. This however is almost 3°C below average! The coldest night was of 6.1°C on the 9th. On this night the Grass Minimum temperature was -1.3°C. This was the colder ever March Grass Minimum temperature since temperature records began at Balzan in 1988.

A cold February!

February 2008 was a cold month and, temperature-wise, was very much different to January. The mean monthly temperature of 12.4°C was 0.6°C below the average since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987.

The coldest night last month was the 18th, when the air temperature plummeted to a chilly 3.1°C. The Grass Minimum on that day fell to a record -4.0°C - the coldest ever Grass Minimum temperature recorded at Balzan since 1987 for any month! The coldest day was 17th February when the maximum temperature only rose to 7.9°C. This was the coldest day ever recorded for any month at Balzan since temperature records began in 1987!

Hail fell on 3 days last month with some places getting a thick carpet of small hail which took hours to melt! There were also 4 days with thunderstorms. A total of 44.5 millimetres of rain fell during the month - this was 73% of the average of 61.3mm for February. The wettest February since 1985 was that of 1996 with 181.3 millimetres and the driest was in 1990 with just 1.5 millimetres.

Another  warm and dry January!

Following last year's very dry and warm January, January 2008 was also warm and very dry although not as warm or as dry as last year's January! The average mean last month was of 13.9°C - this is 0.8°C higher than the average of 13.1°C. The mean maximum of 16.3°C was only 0.2°C above average. The warmest day was the 6th, when the temperature reached a high of 19.7°C. The warmest January day ever recorded was the 28th in 1988 with 22.2°C. 

However, the mean minimum temperature of 11.5°C was 1.4°C above average. The warmest night was the on the 5th when the mercury reached its lowest at 15.0°C. The coolest night was on the 3rd of the month, when the thermometer reached a minimum at 7.9°C. The lowest temperature on record was that of the 7th January 2002 when the minimum temperature was only 3.9°C.

January 2008 was also a very dry January with only 21.9mm of rainfall at Balzan, compared to the average of 92.4mm, although there were 12 days of rain. The driest ever January was that of last year with only 8.9 mm.

Weather phenomena of note were a brief tornado on the 18th of the month and a strong gregale wind on the 24th which caused lots of damage to boats on the northeastern coast of Malta. For reports and photos of both storms click here.

A cool December!

December 2007 was a cold December - in fact mean temperatures were 0.8°C below average. The mean maximum temperature was 15.9°C (1.5°C below average) while the mean minimum temperature was 11.6°C (0.1°C below average). The highest temperature was 19.3°C on the 10th. The highest ever maximum temperature for December was 24.9°C in December 1987. The coldest night last month was 6.0°C on the 18th of the month.

With 21 rain days and a total of 229.9 mm, rainfall was far above the norm and was in fact more than double the average December rainfall of 114.2 mm. The wettest day last month was on the 29th/30th when 146.7mm of rainfall fell within 24 hours at Balzan. For a report and photos of the damage caused by this storm click here.

Cool but rather dry November!

November 2007 was a cool but rather dry month with the rainfall at Balzan being 73% below average. In fact, 84.5mm of rain were measured in November compared to the average of 115.0mm.

The mean monthly temperature of 17.5°C was 0.5°C below the average one would expect for November. The warmest night last month was that of the 26th with the thermometer showing 19.7°C at its lowest point. The 20th night of the month was the coolest, as the mercury crept down to 8.9°C.

The average 19.9°C daytime temperatures last month were cooler than those since 1987 by 1.2°C. The highest temperature for November was 24.1°C on the 24th of the month.

Cool and wet October!

October 2007 was a cool and wet month with rainfall at Balzan being 41% above the average. In fact, 98.8mm of rain were measured in October compared to the average of 69.8mm.

The mean monthly temperature of 21.5°C was 0.5°C below the average one would expect for October. The warmest night last month was that of the 1st with the thermometer showing 22.6°C at its lowest point. The 22nd night of the month was the coolest, as the mercury crept down to 11.8°C.

The average 23.8°C daytime temperatures last month were cooler than those since 1987 by 1.6°C. The highest temperature for October was 27.8°C on the 5th and 6th of the month.

Dry September

Last month was rather a dry month with approximately only half the average rainfall for September. A total of 36.2 mm of rain fell at Balzan, the average rainfall in September being 67.1 mm.

The wettest day was September 25 with 25.0 mm measured during a thunderstorm, although most places in Gozo had around double this! The wettest September on record was that of 2003 with 390.3 mm and the driest that of 1992, a completely dry month.

September days with an average temperature of 27.7°C were slightly cooler than average, by 0.8 degrees. The warmest day was 19th September when the temperature peaked at 32.3°C. The coolest was 25th September with a high of only 25.1°C. The hottest September day on record was that of 26th September 1990, when the mercury hit 39.2°C.

Average August

August daytime temperatures, showed a mean of 31.4°C, 0.4°C lower than the monthly average since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. The average maximum temperature measured last month was about 0.8°C above that reached in July this year. The hottest day last month was on the 23rd, when the thermometer reached 37.6°C.

The coolest night last month was that of the 13th when a value of 21.8°C was registered. It is interesting to note that the lowest night time August temperature ever recorded was that of 23rd August 1997, when a cool 18.0°C was registered.

Daytime temperatures in July reached a mean of 30.6°C, 0.9°C lower than the average at Balzan since 1987. The hottest day last month was on 24th July when the thermometer climbed to 37.4 °C. The night with the lowest temperature last month was that of 14th July when 19.8°C was registered around dawn.

Record-breaking June
1st July 2007

June 2007 was a warm month but also the wettest June on record and also produced the warmest June day and night since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987.

Last month's mean temperature of 25.3°C was 0.8°C warmer than average. The warmest June was that of 2003 with a mean temperature of 26.5°C. On the other hand, the coolest June months experienced since 1987 was in 1992 with a mean of 22.8°C.

The average high last month was 29.3°C, which was more a bit warmer than it was last year. However, last year there were nine days in a row when the daily highest temperature rose above 35°C, the closest one could get to a "heat wave", while this year there were four such days, between 23rd and 26th June.

Monday, 25th June was the warmest at 40.1°C. This was the hottest June day ever. The previous hottest one was of 38.8°C on 13th June 1997.

This year's June nights, with an average temperature of 21.2°C, were warmer, by 0.9°C, than the norm. The warmest night was the 25th/26th when, at dawn, the mercury reached its lowest point at 28.6°C. That was also the warmest June night ever recorded.

The coolest night last month was that of the 3rd with a minimum temperature of 14.8°C. This equalled the coolest June temperature ever recorded. This was on 1st June 1990 when the minimum temperature had also gone down to 14.8°C.

Last month was the wettest June ever. There were two episodes of heavy rainfall - June 3 when between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m., 11.4mm of rainfall were measured at Balzan and June 4 when 68.0mm were recorded. The rainfall on June 4 was localised. In Gozo precipitation on that day was of the order of a few drops, contrasting heavily with certain other localities in Malta. Thunder was heard on one day, 4th June.

Average but dry May

Last month was the driest May of the past eight years with just 0.2 mm of rainfall being recorded at Balzan Weather Station last month. However, temperature-wise it was an average month, with a mean temperature of 20.6°C, just 0.2 degrees warmer than the average.

The warmest day was last Sunday when the thermometer at the Met Office site at the airport hit 30.3°C. The lowest temperature was 15.0°C, recorded late on the night of May 21. The lowest grass minimum temperature was 9.6°C on May 21.

Mean mean wind speed was of 14 kilometres per hour from the west northwest, with a maximum gust at Zebbug reaching 64.8km/h from the east southeast on 4th May. Stronger gusts were measured in other locations on that day: Mgarr Malta 74.0km/h and Mellieha 116.6km/h. A gust of 70.8km/h was recorded at Nadur on the 27th May.

April one of the driest on record

Last month was one of the driest Aprils on record with only 9.3mm at Balzan. In fact, last month was 17.2mm below average, making it one of the driest Aprils since rainfall records begin in Balzan in 1985. The heaviest downpour - just 5.1mm - was measured on the 2nd of April. The wettest April since 1985 was in 1994 when 163.1mm of rain drenched the Maltese Islands.

With a mean temperature of 17.2°C, April was 0.6 of a degree warmer than the average since temperature records began in Balzan in 1987. April of 1988, 1998 and 2006, with a mean temperature of 17.5°C, were the warmest Aprils on record. The coolest was in 1997 with a mean of 14.7°C.

The warmest day last month were 23rd and 26th April, both with a high of 22.8°C. The warmest April day on record was on 30th April 1999 when the temperature climbed to 29.4°C.

The coolest it got last month was early before dawn on 1st April when the thermometer dipped to 10.1°C. The coolest April temperature was that on 2nd April 1997 when a chilly 6.5°C was registered.

With a mean wind speed of 13 kilometres per hour, April has not lived up to its reputation of being the windiest month of the year. In fact, for 90 per cent of the time the wind was in the light to moderate speed bracket.

The most frequent direction was east with the strongest gust at Zebbug reaching 62.9 km/h from the northeast on 20th April. Strongest gusts of around 70km/h were also registered at Msida and Nadur, while a gust of 90.7km/h was registered at Mellieha on 13th April from an east southeast direction.

An average March

March 2007 was an average month with the average mean of 14.7°C being only 0.2°C higher than the average of 14.5°C. The warmest day was the 6th, when the temperature reached a high of 20.1°C.  The warmest March day ever recorded was on the 25th March 2001 with a high of 33.5°C! 

However, strangely enough, while the mean maximum of 17.2°C was 0.6°C below the average, the mean minimum temperature of 12.2°C was 0.9°C above average! This is a trend where we are seeing night time temperatures really warming up! The warmest night was the on the 4th when the mercury reached its lowest at 15.1°C. The coolest night was on the 28th of the month, when the thermometer reached a minimum at 9.2°C. The lowest temperature on record was that of the 9th March 1993 when the minimum temperature was only 4.8°C.

Unlike these past few months, March 2007 was much wetter than average, in fact, 218% wetter than average. The total rainfall for March 2007 was of 81.2mm, while the average is only of 37.2mm. During March thunder was heard on 6 days and hail on 2 days.

The average wind speed at Zebbug Malta Weather Station was 15 kilometres per hour. The most frequent wind direction was from the W. The strongest gust was 74.0km/h from a westerly direction on the 23rd of the month. A maximum gust of 96.2km/h was also measured at Mellieha on the 9th of the month during a thunderstorm.

A warm and dry February!

February 2007 was another warm month with the average mean of 14.1°C being 1.1°C higher than the average of 13.0°C. Although this was a warm month no records were broken, as 1990, 1995, and 2002 all had higher mean monthly maximum temperatures for February. The warmest day was the 15th, when the temperature reached a high of 18.6°C.  The warmest February day ever recorded was the 20th in 2004 with 23.4°C. 

However, minimum temperatures for February 2007 were the warmest ever since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. The mean minimum temperature of 11.6°C was 1.7°C above average. The warmest night was the on the 13th when the mercury reached its lowest at 15.2°C. The coolest night was on the 6th of the month, when the thermometer reached a minimum at 5.3°C and the Grass Minimum on this day reached -2.3°C, the coldest ever for any month since temperature records began at Balzan 1987! The lowest temperature on record was that of the 1st February 1999 when the minimum temperature was only 2.6°C.

February 2007 was also another dry month with just 6 rain days and a mere total of 15.2 mm The average rainfall for February is 62.0mm. During February thunder was heard on 3 days, together with a short-lived hail shower on the 27th.

The average wind speed at Zebbug Malta Weather Station was 16.1 kilometres per hour. The most frequent wind direction was from the WNW. The strongest gust was 75.8km/h from a WNW direction on the 13th of the month. Maximum gusts of 90.7km/h and 83.7km/h were also measured at Mellieha and Nadur on that day.

A warm and very dry January!

January 2007 was another warm month with the average mean of 14.5°C being 1.4°C higher than the average of 13.1°C. Although maximum temperatures during January were higher than average they did not break any record, as 1988, 1996, 1997and 2001 all had higher mean monthly maximum temperatures for January. The warmest day was Saturday the 20th, when the temperature reached a high of 19.9°C. The warmest January day ever recorded was the 28th in 1988 with 22.2°C. 

However, minimum temperatures for January 2007 were the warmest ever since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. The mean minimum temperature of 11.9°C was 1.8°C above average. The warmest night was the on the 23rd when the mercury reached its lowest at 16.1°C, a few minutes around dawn. The coolest nights were on the 1st and 7th of the month, when the thermometer reached a minimum at 9.2°C. The lowest temperature on record was that of the 7th January 2002 when the minimum temperature was only 3.9°C.

January 2007 was also the driest January since rainfall records began at Balzan in 1985. With only five rain days and a mere total of 8.9 mm, rainfall was in sharp contrast with last year’s when January then was the wettest ever recorded. The driest ever previous January was that 1987 with 24.6 mm. The average rainfall for January is 95.6mm. During January thunder was heard on one day, the 3 ^rd of the month, during a short lived hail shower.

With an average speed of 11 kilometres per hour the wind at Zebbug Malta Weather Station, and for 99 % of the time keeping within the light to moderate speed bracket. The most frequent wind direction was from the west. The strongest gust was 64.8km/h from a northwesterly direction on the 2nd of the month. Maximum gusts of 90.7km/h and 92.5km/h were also measured at Mellieha and Nadur respectively the following day.

December 2006 was a warm December - in fact the 4th warmest since records began at Balzan in 1987. The mercury averaged 15.6°C and the highest temperature was 20.4°C. On 8th December 1987, the thermometer had peaked at 24.9°C.

Nights last month were 1.4°C warmer than average, reaching 17.5°C on 15th December. The coldest was Christmas night at 9.5°C.

With 13 rain days and a total of 107.9 mm, rainfall was only slightly below the norm by just 1.1 mm. The heaviest downpours occurred during the night.

The wind was also pretty light but there was a gust of 88.8km/h at Mellieha on the 24th December during a thunderstorm. In fact, on this day, large hail over 1 inch in diameter was reported in Gzira, slightly denting roofs and bonnets of various cars.

Dry November!

November 2006 was a very dry month with rainfall at Balzan being only 49% of the average. In fact, only 57.2mm of rain were measured in November when compared to the average of 116.4mm.

the mean monthly temperature of 17.6°C being a bit below the average one would expect for November. The warmest night last month was that of the 2nd with the thermometer showing 20.4°C at its lowest point. The 12th night of the month was the coolest, as the mercury crept down to 11.1°C.

The chilliest November night was that of 1996 when at dawn of the 23rd the temperature dropped to just 5.7°C and the grass minimum to -0.9°C!

The average 20.3°C daytime temperatures last month were cooler than those since 1987 by 0.7°C. The November with the coolest days on record was that of 1998 with an average maximum temperature of 19.3°C. The October with the warmest days was in 1992, with an average high of 22.9°C.

The highest temperature for November was 23.4°C on the 2nd of the month. The hottest November day on record was that of 1st November 1990 with a sweltering 28.9°C.

Average October

October 2006 was a normal month with the mean monthly temperature of 22.1°C being exactly the average one would expect for October. However, October nights, with a mean minimum temperature of 19.1°C, were 0.5°C warmer than the average at Balzan since temperature records began in 1987.

The warmest night last month was that of the 4th with the thermometer showing 23.6°C at its lowest point. The 18th night of the month was the coolest, as the mercury crept down to 16.1°C.

The chilliest October night was that of 1996 when at dawn of the 29th the temperature dropped to just 11.3°C.

The average 25.0°C daytime temperatures last month were actually slightly cooler than those since 1987. The October with the coolest days on record was that of 1996 with an average maximum temperature of 23.2°C. The October with the warmest days was in 1990, with an average high of 27.6°C.

The highest temperature for October was 30.1°C on the 25th of the month. The hottest October day on record was that of 27th October 1999 with a sweltering 33.5°C.

Last month, 82.5 mm of rainfall was measured at Balzan - 14.0 mm more than the average. The wettest October since 1985 was that of 1994 when 233.0 mm drenched the Maltese Islands.

On seven of the last 10 days of the month copious amounts of mist formed, lowering visibility to 50 metres on one occasion.

Severe Thunderstorm!

An isolated thunderstorm moving in from the northwest affected the Maltese Islands, especially Gozo, where heavy rain caused severe flooding and an unconfirmed tornado at Xlendi. An unconfirmed tornado was also reported at Golden Bay, while 1cm hail was reported at Qrendi. Winds were very strong during this storm with a gust of 107km/h (57 knots) at Mellieha at around 4.10pm. The unconfirmed brief tornado at Xlendi  uprooted some trees and brought down a few rubble walls. The small sandy beach at Xlendi was also practically washed away by the floodwaters. The heaviest rainfall was reported in Zebbug 86.2mm, Marsalforn 54.0mm, Victoria 41.0mm and Sannat 34.4mm. A relatively weak dry line oriented southwest-northeast was present together with a lifted index of -6.6 and a CAPE of over 2000J/kg. The hodograph was oriented southwest-northeast too indicating that a good wind shear was present.

The average maximum temperature of 27.2°C for September was the coldest ever since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. In fact it was below the average maximum temperature by 1.4°C. On the other hand, given a mean of 21.5°C, the nights were exactly average.

The warmest days last month were the 8th and the 9th when the temperature at Balzan climbed to 30.8°C and the coolest were the 3 consecutive nights from 22nd to 24th September with a low of 19.1°C.

The hottest September days noted since Balzan Weather Station started keeping temperature records in 1987, were in September 1992 when a temperature of 39.2°C was reached, and the coolest September night was in September 2004 with a minimum of 15.4°C.

A total of 37.8 mm of rain fell last month at Balzan with the wettest day being the 12th with 18.8 mm - the average rainfall in September being 68.5 mm. The wettest September was in 2003 with 390.3 mm and the driest was in 1992, a completely dry month.

Thunder was heard on five days last month, which is exactly the average. The stormiest September was that of 1997 with 12 days followed by that of 2003 with 11 thunderstorm days.

The wind last month was quite lively with one in five days being in the moderate to rather strong speed bracket. The average speed at Zebbug Weather Station was (10.4 km/h and the most frequent direction was the northwest. On the 16th, Malta experienced the strongest gust of the month, 64.8 km/h from the WNW.

Last month was again characterised by warmer-than-average nights with the mean monthly minimum temperature of 23.8°C being 0.3°C above normal, ever since temperature records began in Balzan in 1987. The mean monthly maximum of 30.4°C was 1.4°C below normal. The strongest gust was 64.8km/h or 35 knots at Zebbug on 5th August. The highest temperature was 38.3°C measured on 20th and 21st August and the coolest night last August was 20.9°C on 10th August.

A total of 8.6 mm of rain fell at Balzan on 9th August with the average rainfall for the whole month being 7.1 mm.

Warm nights and warm sea in July!

The sizzling heat of the summer months made itself felt during the month of July, with an average temperature of 24.0 degrees Celsius during the night that was over a degree warmer than the average at Balzan since temperature records began in 1987.

The average temperature during the day was 30.9 deg C, which was however 0.7 degrees cooler than the monthly average at Balzan.

The high averages also had an effect on the sea surrounding the Maltese islands, as its average temperature of 26.3 deg C was almost two degrees higher than normal. Since 1978, the sea temperature was only higher in July 2003.

The temperatures during the day did not rise to unbearable heights due to sea breezes that resulted from cold air which entered into the upper reaches of the atmosphere of the central Mediterranean, rendering weather in the area rather unstable. This in fact produced two local thunderstorms, one a light one in the Rabat/Dingli area on the 10th and another, a much stronger one with rainfall of 46.0mm at Marsascala on the 19th! This storm also produced a waterspout for about 10 minutes over St Thomas Bay. For a full report of this storm please visit www.maltastorms.com.

Long heat wave in last 2 weeks of June!

The weather last month was characterised by longer than usual heat waves.

A high temperature episode lasted for five days between the 20th and the 24th, with daily maximum temperatures averaging 35°C. Another one lasting four days with even higher temperatures followed soon after.

With a mean monthly temperature of 24.5°C, last month was exactly the average temperature for June. However, the first half of June contrasted sharply with the second half. Whereas the former had maximum temperatures ranging from 20°C to 26°C, the second half of the month saw maximum temperatures ranging from 30°C to 37°C.

The highest temperature last month was 37.1 °C recorded on the 23rd of the month. The highest June temperature ever recorded at Balzan by Malta Weather Services was 39.8°C on 13th June 1997.

The nights in June with an average temperature of 20.4°C were very close to what one would expect. The warmest was the night of 22nd/23rd June with 27.1°C while the coolest was that of 5th/6th June when the thermometer dropped to 15.1°C. However, the coolest June night on record was in June 1990 when the thermometer dipped to 14.8°C.

June is usually quite a dry month with an average rainfall of 2.6 mm. Last month a total of 2.5 mm were measured at Balzan, practically all of which was deposited during a couple of showers around 1 a.m. on June 3. The wettest June on record was in 2003 with 28.9 mm of rainfall.

The wind at was generally on the slack side with an average speed of 10.4 kilometres per hour) at Zebbug Malta. The most frequent direction was westerly and the strongest gust was 55.5 kilometres per hour) from the Northwest on 1st June. However, there were higher gusts of 66.7 kilometres per hour and 64.8 kilometres per hour at Mellieha and Nadur respectively.

May was sunnier, warmer and drier than average. With a mean temperature of 21.4°C, the month was 1.0°C warmer than the average May. Indeed, May 23, with the highest temperature reaching 37.3°C, was the warmest May day on record.

At just 0.8mm, last month was one of the driest months, although not the driest on record. The average rainfall for May is 10.2mm.

Today’s maximum temperature at Balzan managed to beat yesterday’s record temperature to make today the hottest day ever for May since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. Today’s maximum temperature was 37.3 degrees Celsius, beating yesterday’s by 1.1 degrees. This means that today was the hottest day ever for May – and what is also SPECIAL is that the hottest temperature for May was broken on 2 consecutive days, yesterday and today! Such extremes of weather can be indicative of a changing climate! 

Like yesterday, the high temperature today was an effect of the same high pressure system that has been lingering over the central Mediterranean for the past few days. Again today the Maltese Islands were on the eastern side of this upper ridge of high pressure – this is a very good scenario for heat waves. 

However, what was different from yesterday is that the winds today were rather light and variable, which meant that most locations in the Maltese Islands were affected by these very hot and dry weather, as can be seen below:

Balzan – 37.3 degrees, Msida – 37.4 degrees, Rabat – 36.9 degrees, Mellieha – 35.6 degrees, Nadur – 33.6 degrees, Victoria – 33.5 degrees . Today must definitely go down as the hottest day ever in May!

Today was the hottest day ever for May since temperature records began in Balzan in 1987. In fact, today’s maximum temperature at Balzan was of 36.2 degrees Celsius, which is about 10 degrees higher the mean maximum temperature for May! The previous record for May was on 25^th May 1994 when the temperature went up to 34.5 degrees Celsius. Today maximum temperature of 36.2 degrees beat this record by 1.7 degrees!

The high temperature today was an effect of a rather lazy high pressure system that has been lingering over the central Mediterranean for the past few days. Today the Maltese Islands were on the eastern side of this upper ridge of high pressure. The eastern side of a high pressure system is always the worst part because it means that upper air winds get compressed and heated as they descend. This is the situation we were experiencing today.

Also, winds are usually rather light around a high pressure system and this was the case these past few days too. This gave the air enough time to heat up day after day. And today what made matter worse is that the hot and extremely dry air over northern Africa was carried over to the central Mediterranean from the Tunisia coast. Dry air is much easier to heat than humid air.

However, not all areas around the Maltese Islands were affected in the same way. The maximum temperature at Rabat was of 32.1 degrees, at Mellieha 30.2 degrees, at Nadur only 29.5 degrees and at Victoria 30.8 degrees. However, at Balzan and Msida the maximum temperature today was 36.2 degrees and 36.8 degrees respectively. This was because of the much longer land tract at these locations since the wind today was from the WSW.

April - one of the driest and warmest on record!

April 2006 was the driest April since records started being kept at Balzan in 1985. In fact, only 0.6mm or rainfall was measured last month, compared to the average of 27.3mm. The previous driest April was in 1993 with 2.1mm.

This was because April 2006 was dominated by relatively high pressure over the central Mediterranean, especially in the first half of the month. In the second half of the month, some desert low pressure areas passed over the Maltese Islands, but these were rather weak and only contributed to some light rain showers.

With a mean temperature of 17.5 degrees, April 2006 was also the warmest on record, together with April 1998, which also had a mean on 17.5 degrees. The mean temperature of the month was almost 1 degree warmer than the average of 16.6 degrees.

The warmest day last month was the 17th with a high of 28.9 degrees, and the coolest night was that between the 4th and the 5th when the thermometer dipped to 10.3 degrees.

On the 25th, gusts of 90.7km/h were measured in Mellieha on the 25th, while on the 18th, gusts of 72.2km/h and 75.6km/h were measured at Msida and Nadur respectively.

March 2006 was another colder-than-average month - in fact, it was cooler by 0.4 degrees when compared to the average since 1987 at Balzan. Last month's mean temperature was 14.1°C, while the average is 14.5°C. The warmest March, since 1987, was that of 2001 with 17.1°C and the coolest was 2003's with a mean of 13.1°C.

The warmest day was on the 28th with 21.6°C. The warmest March day since 1987 was that of 2001 when on the 25th it reached a high of 33.5°C.

March nights were just about average, with the lowest temperature, 6.6°C, reached shortly before dawn of the 13th and the 16th. However, 9th March 1993, with a low of 4.8°C, is the coldest March night on record.

Our weather station at Balzan also keeps a daily record of the lowest temperature at grass height level, a few centimetres above the ground. The coldest it got, down there, last month, was just 0.8°C - on 16th March.

With a total of only 30.0 mm of rainfall, last month was 5.1 mm below the average for the month. The average rainfall since 1985 at Balzan is 35.1mm. The wettest March on record was that of 1996 when a total of 125 mm drenched the islands; the driest was that of 2000 with only 4.7 mm of rain.

The highest gust, recorded on the night between the 11th and the 12th, was 40 knots (74.4 km/h) from a west southwesterly direction. However, at Mellieha, the highest gust on that night was of 57 knots (105.5 km/h) from a northwesterly direction. The most frequent direction last month was the westnorthwesterly.

A cold February too!

With a mean temperature of 12.6°C, last month was colder, by 0.3°C, than the average at Balzan. The coldest February, since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987, was in 2003 with an average temperature of 10.8°C.

February 7th was the coldest February day ever since records began in 1987 when the temperature just made it to 8.7°C. Last month's nights, with a mean temperature of 10.5°C, were however warmer than the average by 0.7°C, with the coldest night being that of the 15th, when the mercury plunged to 4.9°C. But the coldest night on record was that of 1st February 1999, when the thermometer plunged to 2.6°C.

The weather station at Balzan also keeps a daily record of the lowest temperature at grass height level, a few centimetres above the ground. The coldest it got, down there last month, was 1.4°C (that is more than one degree below freezing) - and that was on February 15th.

With a total of only 63.0mm, rainfall was practically what would normally be expected for the month. However, rainfall in February is, generally speaking, quite erratic, in that months of plenty are often followed by lean months. The highest amount, last month, 29.7mm, occurred on the afternoon and evening of February 23.

The day before that, a deep depression, or low pressure system, developed in the Algerian desert. This moved quite rapidly eastwards towards southern Tunisia, increasing in strength, forming rain bearing clouds and raising enormous sandstorms over much of the western part of North Africa. It then turned north-eastwards passing slightly to the north of the Maltese Islands around noon of February 23.

Very wet and cold January!

Last month was the wettest January for at least 20 years since rainfall records began at Balzan in 1985, Malta Weather Services reported. With a total of 222.4mm, the rainfall was above the average by 129.3mm or more than double the mean January rainfall of 93.1mm! The previous wettest January since 1985 was 210.7mm in January 1992.

There were 23 days of rain during January – this was also another record beating the previous record of 20 days of rain in 2000 by 3 days. The heaviest downpour occurred on the 9th with a total of 55.5 mm. There were also 16 days with thunderstorms and 11 days with hail, both values being the highest ever for any month of the year since at least 1985!

January 2006, with a mean temperature of 11.6°C, was the second coldest January since 1987 and was cooler by 1.5 degrees Celsius, than the average of the past 18 years. Besides, the mean maximum temperature for January 2006 of just 13.8 degrees Celsius was the lowest ever since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987!

The coldest day in January was on the 24^th with a high of just 10.6 degrees, while the coldest nights were on the 24^th and 26^th with lows of just 4.7 degrees! There was also a low of only 4.0 degrees at the Airport on the 25^th. The warmest day in January was on the 29th with a high of only 16.8 degrees. This was almost 3 degrees below the mean of 19.6 degrees. The warmest January day on record occurred on 28^th January 1988 with a balmy 22.2 degrees. The coldest January night ever was on 7^th January 2002 with 3.9 degrees.

All this wet and cold weather was the result of various low pressure systems and their associated warm/cold fronts passing over or forming close to the central Mediterranean, bringing cold air from central Europe and Siberia which contrasted with the warmer air over the Mediterranean, thereby resulting in heavy downpours on more than one occasion in January. Other days had rainfall due to upper-level troughs forming over or extending to the central Mediterranean.

It was extremely windy late evening on the last day of the month, with highest gusts from a northeasterly direction registered at the Airport 43 knots, Rabat 38 knots, Msida 41 knots, Nadur 44 knots, Victoria 37 knots and Mellieha an extremely high gust of 50 knots (Force 10). Winds were even stronger in the early hours of 1st February!

Wet and tornadic December!

Last month was a wet December. With 18 rainy days and a total of 154.5 mm, the rainfall was above the average by 45.5 mm. However, it was NOT a record as since 1985, there were 3 other Decembers that were wetter than December 2005. In fact, 1986, 1991 and 1999 all had wetter Decembers with rainfall of 188.6mm, 210.7mm and 190.5mm respectively.

The heaviest downpours occurred on the 13th with a total of 91.5 mm of rainfall being reported up to noon at Msida, which was the wettest location on that day. The wettest December since records began at Balzan in 1985 was that of 1991 when 210.7 mm drenched the Maltese Islands.

The last month of the year, with a mean temperature of 13.7°C was cooler, by almost one degree, than the average since 1987.

December 1989, with a mean temperature of 16.2°C, was the warmest December since records began at Balzan in 1987. The coolest was that of 1991 with a mean of 12.4°C.

The warmest day last month was the 5th high of 19.1°C. The warmest December day on record was that in December 1987 with a balmy 24.9°C.

The coolest night last month was that of the 24th/25th when the thermometer dipped to 6.4°C. The chilliest December night since records began in 1985 was that in December 1988 when 3.8°C were measured.

The highest wind gust was measured on the 13th December 2005 at Mellieha Weather Station with a gust of 92.5km/h from a NNE directions at 06:35 am. Also, on that day, early in the morning, a brief tornado affected parts of Marsascala, with upturned boats and large branches broken off.

Another cool month!

At a mean temperature of 17.7 °C, November was 0.3°C cooler than the average since 1987. The warmest November since 1987 at Balzan was that of 1992 with a mean temperature of 19.5 °C. The coolest November since 1987 was that of 1998 with an average of 16.1°C.

November's average minimum temperature of 14.9°C was exactly the average for November. The warmest night was on the 15th with a low of 18.6°C. The coldest nights were on the 21st, 25th and 29th of November, all 3 nights having a minimum temperature of 10.1°C.

The chilliest November night on record was in 1995 when at dawn of the 23rd the temperature dropped to just 5.7°C above freezing.

Last month the highest temperature reached at Balzan was 24.3°C on the 2nd November. The highest November temperature ever reached since records began in 1987 was 28.9°C in 1990.

With an average of six hours and 36 minutes of bright sunshine a day, November was sunnier than usual. This meant a total of two hours more sunshine than an average November. The brightest day was the 9th with almost 10 hours while the dullest was the 24th with barely 6 minutes of sunshine in an otherwise cloudy day.

With 16 rainy days and a total of 77.0mm, rainfall was well short of the average for the month by 42.2mm. The heaviest downpour, 29.2mm, occurred on the 13th November. The wettest November since 1985 was that of 1999 when 383.4 mm drenched the Maltese Islands.

Warm nights in October

October nights were warmer than average by 0.6°C. The average night temperature was 19.1°C, more than half a degree warmer than the average of the past 18 years.

The warmest night last month was that between the 21st and 22nd when the temperature reached 22.7°C. The last night of the month was the coolest with the mercury creeping down to 15.4°C.

A total of 85.2mm of rain was measured throughout the month but almost half of that was recorded within a few minutes on the morning of October 4. The wettest October since 1985 was that of 1994 when 233.0mm of rain drenched the Maltese islands.

The average daily maximum temperature last month was 24.1°C. This was just under one degree lower than the average coolest temperature recorded since 1985, October 1996, which had an average temperature during the day of 23.2°C.

The warmest October days recorded were in 1990, at an average daily temperature of 27.6°C.

September warm at first, then cool

September 2005 was another cool month, even though it began with rather warm and humid days in the first 2 weeks. On the whole days were cooler than average while nights were warmer, almost as warm as nights last month! The mean maximum temperature of 27.5°C was 1.2 degrees below average, while the mean minimum temperature of 21.9°C was 0.4 degrees above average. This means that the mean monthly temperature of 24.7°C was 0.4 degrees below average.

The temperature reached a high of 31.0°C at Balzan on 18th September, while the highest August temperature measured since records began in 1987 was 39.2°C in 1990. The coldest night was on the last day of the month, when the temperature went down to 18.3°C. The temperature dropped to a chilly 15.4°C in September 2004, the coolest September night on record.

September 2005 was, as predicted by us, a dry month with just 16.9mm of rain at Balzan. This was only 23% of the average rainfall for September. Some other places in Malta and Gozo had substantially more rainfall.

August 2005 was a very cool month with below average temperatures for this time of the year. The mean maximum temperature of 29.0°C was 1.9 degrees below average, while the mean minimum temperature of 22.9°C was 0.6 degrees below average. This made the mean monthly temperature of 26.0°C, 1.7 degrees below average. This August 2005 was the coolest August since records began at Balzan in 1987.

The temperature reached a high of 35.5°C at Balzan on 2nd August, while the highest August temperature measured since records began in 1987 was 43.0°C in 1999.

On the 27th of the month the lowest night-time temperature of 20.3°C, was reached. The temperature dropped to a chilly 18.0°C in August 1997, the coolest August night on record.

August is usually a dry month with just an average rainfall of 7.0 mm. However, last month was wetter than average when 10.7 mm of rain were measured at Balzan.

Coolest August day!

The rainy weather has sent temperatures tumbling and yesterday was one of the coolest August days since records began at Balzan in 1987 - a mere 23.9°C.

The Civil Protection Department was kept quite busy in the morning assisting drivers out of their cars, mostly those stuck in rising waters along the old road leading to Marsascala and Marsa. CPD director Peter Cordina reported no injuries but said 22 drivers had to be rescued in Marsascala and another 10 in Marsa.

Car breakdown companies were inundated with calls from motorists who were stranded. RMF representative Robert Debattista said the the company received double the amount of calls they get on an average day. "Though there were no heavy floods we still received about 160 calls for help, with the south of the island proving to be the most problematic area." An MTC spokesman said his company received 48 calls from stranded drivers and two trucks helped 32 vehicles - the others had managed to resolve the problem.

This bad weather came about because of a trough of low pressure in the upper atmosphere over the northern-central Mediterranean in the weekend, which led to the formation of an extensive unstable and moist air mass over the central Mediterranean.

Malta yesterday experienced its second consecutive day of rain and it poured heavily for a couple of hours in several areas, with 43.4mm in Paola, 37.4mm in Vittoriosa and 25.8mm in Zabbar.

The watercourse built by workers of the Infrastructure Ministry between Qormi and Marsa and served to alleviate the flooding. During the summer months, ministry employees carried out major cleaning works in various valleys as part of the storm water project introduced by Infrastructure Minister Ninu Zammit in September 2003.

July 2005 was a normal month with average temperatures for this time of the year. The mean maximum temperature of 31.0°C was 0.6 degrees below average, while the mean minimum temperature of 23.3°C was 0.7 degrees above average. This made the mean monthly temperature of 27.2°C was just 0.1 degrees above average.

The temperature reached a high of 35.2°C at Balzan on 1st July, while the highest July temperature measured since records began in 1987 was 43.1°C in 1988.

As mentioned above July nights were warmer than average. On the 4th of the month the lowest night-time temperature of 21.6°C, was reached. The temperature dropped to a chilly 17.4°C in July 1992, the coolest July night on record.

July is usually a dry month with just an average rainfall of 0.2 mm. However, last month was even drier when just trace mm of rain were measured.

Last month was the coolest June since 1992 as regards maximum temperatures. The mean maximum temperature of 26.8°C was almost 2 degrees below average and was equal to the lowest mean maximum temperature for June ever recorded since records began in 1987 at Balzan. The mean maximum temperature was also 26.8°C in 1992.

The temperature reached a high of 33.0°C at Balzan on 29th June, while the highest June temperature measured since records began in 1987 was 39.8°C in 1997.

June nights were however slightly warmer than the average. On the 11th of the month the lowest night-time temperature, of 16.6°C, was reached. The temperature dropped to a chilly 14.8°C in June 1990, the coolest June night on record.

June is usually quite a dry month with an average rainfall of 2.6 mm. However, last month was even drier when just 0.8 mm were measured on 18th June.

May was an average month with the mean temperature being just 0.2°C above the average since 1987. It was also a very dry month with just 1.9mm of rain, when compared to the average of 10.7mm. The wettest May ever, since Balzan Weather Station started keeping records in 1985, was in 1993 with 34.3mm.

With a mean temperature of 20.5°C, May was just above average; this temperature is 0.2°C above the the average. May last year was 1.6°C cooler. The warmest May since 1987 was that in 1999 with a mean temperature of 21.6°C and the coolest was in 1991 with 17.8°C.

The warmest day last month was on the 11th, when the mercury at Balzan climbed to 28.8°C. The warmest May day ever recorded was in 1994 when 34.5°C was reached. In May 1991 the mercury just managed to reach 16.1°C, making this day the coolest May day on record. The coolest May night on record since 1987 was that of May 1992 with a low of 10.5°C.

For most of the month of May a series of high pressure systems covered the central Mediterranean for most of the month, leading to an extensive period of settled weather. This was, however, briefly disrupted when a series of depressions or low pressure systems migrated from the north of the Italian peninsula towards the Greek archipelago between May 5 and 9 and again on May 18. For almost 89 per cent of the time the wind was light to moderate.

The westnorthwest was the most frequent wind direction with an average wind speed, at Balzan, of 9.4 kilometres an hour. The strongest gust recorded on May 6 reached 62.9 kilometres per hour at Balzan and 82.0 kilometres per hour from the westnorthwest.

The lowest grass-height temperature - which is the temperature close to the ground - was 6.7°C on 4th May. The lowest ever recorded grass-height temperature in May was 5.7°C in 1991.

May saw an average of 10 hours and 30 minutes of sunshine a day, which means 31 hours more sunshine than during an average May. The brightest day was May 22 with 12 hours and 54 minutes. May 12 was the dullest with barely one hour of sunshine.

A Cool April

With an average temperature of 16.0°C, April was quite a cool month when compared to previous years. In the past 10 years, only April 1997 was slightly cooler, with 14.7°C being the average. In fact April 1997 was the coolest April ever recorded at Balzan ever since records began in 1987. The warmest was April 1988 and 1998 with 17.5°C.

The warmest day last month was 26th April, when the mercury hit 26.8°C. The warmest April day ever recorded was in April 1999 when temperatures hit a warm 29.4°C. Just before sunrise on 23rd April, temperatures reached the lowest point and stood at a chilly 9.3°C. The coolest night on record since 1987 was in April 1997 with a low of 6.5°C.

The predominant weather feature last month was an anticyclone covering most of Europe and sometimes extending towards the western Mediterranean with a series of depressions or low pressure systems over north and northwest Africa. For a few days in the middle of the month, a complex low pressure system covered the area from northern Italy to central Libya. However, most of the weather it generated was over the Italian peninsula and most of south eastern Europe.

It was a rather quiet month with regard to the wind and for 89 per cent of the time it was light to moderate. The wind blew mostly from the west northwest. The average wind speed at Balzan was 10.9 kilometres per hour and the strongest gust recorded was on 10th April when it reached 64.3 kilometres per hour (82km/h at Nadur Gozo).

The lowest grass height temperature last month was 3.4°C on 23rd April. The lowest ever recorded April grass height temperature was 1.1°C in April 1997.

The average temperature of 13.8°C recorded in March at Balzan was slightly lower than the average for that month. However, although the first third of the month was about three degrees centigrade cooler than average, the latter part was around two degrees warmer. With a total rainfall of 11.3 millimetres, March was rather dry.

The average March rainfall since 1985 at Balzan is 35.3 millimetres. This makes the total rainfall last month about 32% of the average. The wettest March was that of 1996 with 125 mm.

The highest temperature recorded at Balzan last month was 23.3°C on 27th March. The warmest March day since records began in 1987 was that in March 2001 when the mercury peaked at 33.5°C. The thermometer last month dipped to its lowest point at 5.7°C on 3rd March, while the coldest ever was in March 1993 with 4.8°C.

For most of last month, barring a few days, a vast anticyclone or area of high atmospheric pressure was the predominant feature. This covered most of western Europe and the Mediterranean and produced fine weather over most of the area - ideal conditions for the formation of fog. In fact there were six days last month when fog hid the airport. This is an unusually high number of fog days for March, as previously only 1981 and 1961 had a similar amount.

February 2005 was the second coldest February since records began at Balzan in 1988, with an average of 11.2°C coupled with a record number of days when hail pelted the islands.

The coldest night last month was the 6th, when the air temperature plummeted to a chilly 5.2°C. The coldest days were 16th and 17th February when the maximum temperature only rose to 10.9°C. The highest temperature was 19.1°C, recorded on 25th February.

Hail fell on 5 days last month - a record! Thunderstorms were also more common than average last month - 6 days as opposed to the average 3 days for February. A total of 101.3 millimetres of rain fell during the month - a very wet month with 157% of the average. The wettest February since 1985 was that of 1996 with 181.3 millimetres and the driest was in 1990 with just 1.5 millimetres.

February was also quite a windy one with almost one third of the time blowing at moderate to strong gusts. The average speed was 12.3kph. The highest gust was 56.3kph at Balzan and 80.4kph at Nadur from an easterly direction.

There was just an average of 4.6 hours of sunshine a day, with the sunniest day being the 26th with 8.7 hours of sunshine. There were 3 days with sunshine of less than one hour.

Last month was the coolest January since records began at Balzan in 1988, with temperatures stuck at an average of 11.6°C coupled with a record number of days when hail pelted the islands.

The coldest night last month was the 18th, when the air temperature plummeted to a chilly 5.4°C. The coldest day was 26th January when the maximum temperature only rose to 10.1°C. The highest temperature was 17.3°C, recorded on 8th January.

Hail fell on 4 days last month. Thunderstorms were also more common than average last month - 5 days as opposed to the average 4 days for January. A total of 52.8 millimetres of rain fell during the month - a somewhat dry month with just 57% of the average. The wettest January since 1985 was that of 1990 with 209.5 millimetres and the driest was in 1987 with 24.6 millimetres.

January was also quite a windy one with almost one third of the time blowing at moderate to strong gusts. The average speed was 9.9kph. The highest gust was 57.9kph at Balzan and 72.4kph at Nadur from a north-westerly direction.

There was just an average of 4.3 hours of sunshine a day, with the sunniest days being the 12th and the 14th, both with 8.5 hours of sunshine. There were 4 days with sunshine of less than one hour.

The average temperature recorded last month, 15.5°C, at Balzan was warmer, by almost one degree, since records began at Balzan in 1987.

The first ten days of December were quite warm as many would remember, in fact these days were more than three degrees warmer than average, the next ten days were close to the average while the latter part of the month was almost two degrees cooler than normal.

The warmest day was the first day of the month, 22.2°C, and the coolest night was December 29/30 when the temperature plummeted to 7.3°C. The warmest December day since records started in 1987 was in 1987, with a high of 24.9°C, while the coldest December night on record was in 1988, when a low of 3.8°C was reached.

There were 18 days of rainfall in December with a total of 88.4 mm. This rainfall amounts to 83 per cent of the December average since 1985. The heaviest one-day rainfall of 18.7 mm fell on December 17.

The wettest December since records began at Balzan was that of 1991 when a total of 210.7 mm of rain were measured - the driest being that of 1987 with just 23.6 mm. Thunderstorms, last month, were observed on 5 separate days, with one day of hail.

The predominant feature of the first days of December was an anticyclone, or ridge of high pressure, extending from eastern Europe and the Black Sea area to the central Mediterranean and a generally low pressure system over north Africa bringing relatively warm air over the Maltese Islands.

However a series of depressions bringing cold and unstable air characterised the latter part of the month. A cold pool of air has been trapped over the central Mediterranean since Christmas Eve producing the wintry weather now being experienced.

The average wind speed at Balzan was 10.3 km per hour and the most frequent direction was northerly. The highest wind gust reached 61.1 km per hour at Balzan and 86.9 km per hour at Nadur from a west northwest direction.

On average December had 4.3 hours of sunshine a day. The brightest day was December 24 with 8.2 hours while December 16th was the dullest when only 0.3 hours of sunshine was measured.

November 2004 was cool, wet and dull. Rain fell on half the days of the month with a total of 158.6 millimetres of rainfall recorded at Balzan. The night of the 2nd and 3rd November, 2004 had the heaviest rainfall of the month with 74.2 millimetres.

Such heavy downpours are not exceptional in November; however they seem to be occurring more frequently in the last 20 years. The wettest November day since records began at Balzan in 1985 was 10th November 1988 with a total of 193.1 millimetres. The wettest November was that of 1999 with 383.4 millimetres of rainfall -- the driest being that of 1992 with just 6.9 mm.

The average temperature last month was 17.2 degrees Celsius -- the coolest since 1998 and considerably cooler, by 0.9 of a degree, than the average temperature since 1987. The warmest day was the first day of the month with 28.4 degrees Celsius and the coolest night was that of the 26th/27th when the temperature dropped to 8.0 degrees Celsius.

The warmest November day since 1987 was in 1990, with a high of 28.9 degrees Celsius, whilst the coolest November night on record was in 1995, with a low of 5.7 degrees Celsius.

Last month was characterised by the diversity of the weather systems that passed in the vicinity -- various low pressure systems formed over North Africa, especially, in the first days of November, which subsequently migrated towards the central Mediterranean, producing the bulk of the rainfall -- however other depressions that formed in the northern Mediterranean during the month resulted in showery weather and cooler air masses from the Northwest. On a few days an anticyclone sat on top of the Maltese Islands giving them bright sunshine and very light winds.

The average wind speed was 9.1 kilometres per hour and the most frequent direction was SSE. The highest wind gust was of 64.3 kilometres per hour at Balzan and 78.8 kilometres per hour at Nadur.