The mean temperature was 26.7°C and the highest temperature recorded during the month was 34.7°C, on 12 August, a good nine degrees lower than the highest temperature ever recorded, which was on 9 August 1999, when the thermometer at Malta International Airport climbed to 43.8°C.

For most of the month the atmosphere over the central Mediterranean, and over Malta in particular, remained quite unstable. Sea breezes could therefore easily form to bring in cooler air from over the sea.

The nights were slightly – half a degree – warmer than average at 22.6°C. The warmest night was that of 21 August when the temperature only went down to 25.6°C. The coolest night was that of 29 August when the temperature fell to 19.2° C.

The lowest August temperature ever recorded at the MIA Meteorological Office, Malta’s only official weather site, was 15.9°C on 27 August 1972.

The sea temperature was 26.6 °C, which is almost a degree warmer than the average for the month.

The average wind speed last month was 5.7 knots (10.5 kilometres or 6.6 miles per hour). For 90 per cent of the time the wind was less than 10 knots – a good 20 per cent milder than normal.

The strongest gust registered was 29 knots (53.7 kilometres or 33.4 miles per hour) from the northwest.

The highest wind speed experienced since 1947 in August was 59 knots (109 kilometres or 68 miles per hour) from the northeast in 1964.

The most frequent wind direction last month was northwest.

The average rainfall in August is 5.3 millimetres. However, at the airport, only a trace was recorded on 5 August and again on the last couple of days of the month.

Malta had, on average, 10 hours and 34 minutes of sunshine a day during August, which means a total of about eight hours of sunshine less than normally expected. The sunniest days were 2 and 3 August with 12 hours and 24 minutes each, while the dullest was last Tuesday, with only two hours and 24 minutes of sunshine.

The Meteorological Office of Malta International Airport is Malta’s National Weather Service, accredited to the World Meteorological Organisation and only the forecasts issued by them, and the records they keep, are official ones.

Constantly updated information direct from seven automatic weather stations located around Malta and Gozo, together with information from the airport weather station, a five day forecast, a detailed and constantly updated three-day forecast for mariners, the UV Index, the Heat Stress Index, Doppler Weather Radar and Satellite Infra Red Images are available on the

Office’s website www.maltairport.com/weather