The year that has just ended was the coolest in the last 21 years, the Meteorological Office of the Malta International Airport reported yesterday.

Air Temperature

The average temperature last year was 18.7°C – this has been the coolest year in 21 years. However, the coolest year since 1922 – that is since the Meteorological Office, now forming part of Malta International Airport plc, started operating in Malta – was 1929, with an average temperature of 17.8°C, while the warmest was 2001, with a mean of 19.9 °C.

The coolest month last year was February, with a mean temperature of 10.6 °C. In the past 83 years, only four other Februaries were cooler – those of 2003, 1965, 1956 and 1929.

With a mean temperature of 11.1°C, January of last year was also the coolest month in the past 24 years.

The lowest temperature recorded last year was 3.9°C on 6 February.

The lowest temperature ever reached, since records began in 1922, was that of 29 January 1981, when the thermometer plunged to 1.4°C.

The warmest month last year was July, with a mean temperature of 26.7 °C, followed by August with 25.4 °C.

The highest temperature recorded last year was 36.4 °C on 1 July – this does not even come anything close to the record high of 43.8 °C experienced on 9 August 1999.

The Malta International Airport Meteorological Office also keeps a record of the air temperature at grass level and last year’s lowest temperature at that height was -1.8°C (minus 1.8 °C), recorded around dawn on 18 January.

The lowest grass height temperature ever reached was -5°C (minus five) on 9 January 1966.

Rainfall

Rainfall last year, totaling 505.6 millimetres, was just 51mm less than the average.

1951, with 955.6 mm was the wettest, and 1961 with 274.2 mm was the driest.

There were 89 rain days last year – November alone having 18 of them, followed by February with 15 but none in July.

From the records held at the Malta International Airport Meteorological Office, November 1958 had the highest number of rain days – 25 – followed by November 1988 with 23 days.

In 2005, the day with most rainfall was 13 December with 63.2 mm. The wettest day since 1947 was 10 November 1988 with 162.5 mm.

There were 29 days when thunder was heard – seven of those were in November alone.

Never in the past 44 years have we had more days with hail than last year. On 15 days, the rain was accompanied by hail and almost half of those were in January.

Sea temperature

The sea temperature averaged 19.9°C for the whole year, which is slightly warmer than average.

The year with the highest sea temperature was 2001 with a mean of 20.9°C. However, the year with the coolest average sea temperature was 1978 with 18.8°C.

Wind

The northwest was the predominant wind direction last year with the northerly being the least frequent. The monthly average wind speed was 7.9 knots (or 15 kilometres per hour or 9 mph). This is just 0.7 knots (or 1.3 kilometres per hour or 0.8 mph) lighter than the average for the past 30 years.

The highest wind gust was from a west northwesterly direction and reached 44 knots (or 81 kilometres per hour or 51 mph) on 10 April.

Fog

Fog, with very poor visibility, enshrouded the airport as well as most of Malta, on a total of nine days, of which six were in March.

Sunshine hours

On average we enjoyed eight hours of sunshine a day, which is slightly less than the average of the past 78 years. During these years the brightest year was 1961 with 8.9 hours of sunshine per day and the dullest was 1976 with 7.5 hours of sun a day.

From a global perspective: – (from a World Meteorological Organisation press release)

The global mean surface temperature in 2005 is currently estimated to be 0.44°C warmer than the annual average of 14°C, according to records maintained by members of the World Meteorological Organisation.

2005 is likely to be among the warmest four years in the temperature record since 1861.

However, 1998 remains the warmest when surface temperatures averaged 0.54°C above the 30-year mean.

The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season brought an unprecedented 26 named tropical storms, 14 of which were hurricanes.

Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest hurricane to affect the United States since 1928, killing at least 1300 people.

Constantly updated information direct from seven automatic weather stations scattered around Malta and Gozo, together with information from the Airport weather station, a five day brief wind and weather forecast, a detailed and constantly updated three-day forecast for mariners, the UV index, Doppler weather radar and satellite infra-red images are available on our website www.maltairport.com/weather.