The highest relative humidity experienced during the month of August was recorded on 29 August, reaching a maximum of 100 per cent, the Meteorological Office of Malta International Airport reported.
This month’s average mean of 68 per cent is slightly lower than the August mean since 1951, which topped to 71 per cent.
Coupled to this high relative humidity were the August daytime temperatures, which showed a mean of 31.9°C, that is 1.2°C higher than the monthly average of the past 85 years.
The average maximum temperature measured last month was in fact very close to that reached in the month of July this year. The hottest day last month was 23, when the thermometer showed a value of 37.4°C.
This combination of humidity and temperature led to a high heat stress index in the range of 39 to 42.
The coolest night last month was that of 8 when a value of 20.2°C was registered. However, the mean temperature of the past summer months (that is June, July and August) was slightly cooler than that of the past 10 years. It is interesting to note that the lowest night-time August temperature ever recorded was that of 27 August 1972, when a cool 15.9°C measurement was made.
The average sea surface temperature last month was 26.3°C, which is 0.4°C warmer than the norm.
The wind at Malta International Airport last month was slack with an average speed of 6.2 knots (7.1 mph or 11.5 kilometres per hour) and with 99 per cent of the time within the light to moderate speed bracket – markedly calmer than August of last year which had an average of 8.2 knots (9 mph or 15 kilometres per hour).
The most frequent direction was the west northwest and the strongest gusts were 26 knots (30 mph or 48 kilometres per hour) from a west northwest direction on the 9th and 10th of the month. The strongest gust at Malta International Airport ever recorded was 72 knots (83 mph or 133 kilometres per hour) from the northwest on 11 October 1981.
The Meteorological Office of Malta International Airport is Malta’s National Meteorological Service, and as such represents Malta at the World Meteorological Organisation. Official forecasts for 1201 cities from 115 WMO members can be found on the website http://worldweather.wmo.int.
More information is available on the web page at www.maltairport.com/weather