With a mean temperature of 16°C, last month was the second warmest December since the Meteorological Office, now forming part of Malta International Airport plc,started keeping records in 1922. The warmest December was that of 1963 when the month’s temperature then was slightly warmer, by just 0.1°C. However, the coldest Decembers were those of 1940 and 1991 with a mean of 11.8°C each.
The highest temperature last month was 20.3°C, experienced on 4, 5, 7 and 10 December. The warmest December day since 1922 was that of 5 December 1963 when the thermometer peaked at 24.3°C.
Nights last month were much warmer, by 2.2°, than the average – the warmest night being that of 14/15 December with a balmy 17.6°C. However the coldest was Christmas night with a chilly 10.1°C. The coldest December night, in the 84 year history of the Meteorological Office, was that of 1995 when at dawn of the 23 the thermometer showed 3.6°C.
With 16 rain days and a total of 80.8 mm, rainfall was well below the norm, by 20.3 mm. The heaviest downpours occurred during the night of the 17/18 with 20.4 mm of rainfall. The wettest December on record was that of 1970 when 302.6 mm drenched the Maltese Islands. On the other hand, the driest was that of 1925 when only 11.2mm could be squeezed out of the reluctant sky.
Thunderstorms were observed on five days in the month, while hail on two days – the most notable was the hail shower experienced in various localities on the morning of Christmas Eve.
The wind at Malta International Airport, last month, was exceptionally sluggish, in fact it was the slackest of the past 34 years, with an average speed of 6.1 knots (7 mph or 11.3 kilometres per hour) and with 99 per cent of the time within the light to moderate speed bracket. The most frequent direction was the easterly. The strongest gust was 34 knots (39 mph or 63 kilometres per hour) from a southeasterly direction on the 24th of the month. The strongest gust ever recorded in December by the Meteorological Office since records started at the airport in 1946 was 68 knots (78 mph or 126 kilometres per hour) from a Northwesterly direction on 15 December 1981.
With an average of four hours and 36 minutes of bright sunshine a day, December was less sunny than usual. This comes to a total of 15 hours and 30 minutes less sunshine than an average December. The brightest day was Boxing Day with 8 hours and 48 minutes of bright sunshine, while on the 11th and 17th the sun failed to make its appearance.
More information is available on web page www.
maltairport.com/weather