The average temperature of 2006 was 19.4°C – this has been one of the warmest years since the Meteorological Office, now forming part of Malta International Airport plc, started operating in Malta in 1922. This is 0.3°C warmer than the average of the past 30 years.

The warmest year ever recorded was that of 2001 with a mean of 19.9°C. The coolest year was 1929 with 17.8°C.

The warmest month last year was July with a mean temperature of 27.0°C followed by August with 26.6°C

The highest temperature recorded last year was 38.5 °C on 30 June – this does not even come anywhere close to the record high of 43.8 °C experienced on 9 August 1999.

The coolest month last year was February, with a mean temperature of 11.9 °C. This is 0.7 °C cooler than the average. The coolest Februaries on record were those of 1929 and 1965 with a mean of 9.9°C.

The coldest night last year was Saint Valentine’s night with a low of 3.8°C.

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 Malta International Airport Meteorological Office also keeps a record of the air temperature at grass height level and last year’s lowest temperature at that height was -1°C (minus 1°C), recorded around dawn on 15 February.

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

Rainfall

Rainfall last year, totaling 539.7 millimetres, was only 25.2 mm less than average, however almost half of it falling in January alone.

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

Last year, the wettest day was 8 January with 48.6 mm. The wettest day since 1922 was 10 November 1988 with 162.5 mm.

There were 85 rain days last year – January alone having 22 of them, followed by December 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 days) followed by November 1988 and December 1990 with 23 days each.

Thunder and hail

There were 33 days when thunder was heard, eight of those were in January alone.

On 11 days the rain was accompanied by hail and four of those were in January.

Sea temperature

The sea temperature averaged 20.4°C for the whole year, which is slightly more than half a degree warmer than average.

The year with the highest sea temperature was 2001 with a mean of 20.9°C; the year with the lowest average sea temperature was 1978 with 18.8°C.

Wind

The west northwest was the predominant wind direction last year with the northerly being the least frequent. At 7.3 knots (or 14 kilometres per hour or 8 mph) the annual average wind speed was very low. This is just 1.3 knots (or 2.4 kilometres per hour or 1.5 mph) lighter than the average for the past 30 years.

The highest wind gust was from a northeasterly direction and reached 45 knots (or 83 kilometres per hour or 52 mph) on 1 February.

Fog

Fog enshrouded the airport as well as most of Malta on only four days last year.

Sunshine hours

On average we enjoyed eight hours and 18 minutes of sunshine a day, which is slightly more than the average of the past 78 years. During these years the brightest year was 1961 with 8.9 hours of sunshine and the dullest was 1976 with 7.5 hours of sun a day.

From a global perspective: – (from a World Meteorological Organisation Press Release published in December 2006)

The global mean surface temperature in 2006 is currently estimated to be 0.42°C warmer than the annual average of 14°C according to records maintained by Members of the World Meteorological Organisation.

2006 is currently estimated to be the sixth warmest year on record since 1861.

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

While some regions experienced heavy flooding, particularly Morocco, Algeria, Ethiopia and Somalia, other areas are experiencing severe drought conditions like Western Australia, the southwest desert and south plains areas of the USA and southern Brazil.

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 3 day forecast for mariners, the UV Index, Doppler Weather Radar and Satellite Infra Red Images are available on website www.maltairport.com/weather.