After one of the mildest winters anyone can remember, March, the month of spring (which starts today), is to see a rash of below-average temperatures, which this week are expected to drop to as low as eight degrees Celsius at night, according to the Meteorological Office.

Throughout all this week, a system of cold air will be moving across Central Europe, including Malta, causing temperatures to drop to an average of 14 degrees Celsius during the day and eight degrees Celsius at night.

A Meteorological Office spokesman explained that these temperatures fall below the recorded average for this time of the year, which is 17 degrees Celsius.

The spokesman explained that if there is no wind, the temperature is expected to fall even further.

What is more, he added, it was expected to be partly cloudy with showers until Sunday. However, he said, the amount of rainfall recorded so far this month was not unusual.

A total of 56.5mm of rainfall has been recorded this month to date. According to Meteorological Office statistics, 26.20mm of rain fell in March 2006, and 55.4mm in 2003.

One of the highest amount of rainfall in March was recorded in 1996, with 119.7mm, and 71.6mm in March 1997.

The spokesman explained that all the ideal conditions for rain were present, but since there was no wind, it was a slow-moving system.

“When it started raining, the system did not move so there were areas that did not get any rainfall,” he said.