Last month, the Malta Airport Met Office registered four consecutive days with wind gusts greater or equal to 34 knots. On the 9th, a wind gust of 49 knots from the Northeast was registered at Luqa airport. This was followed by gusts of 48 knots on the 10th, 34 knots on the 11th and 36 knots on the 12th. Strong wind warnings were broadcast by the Met Office to local authorities as well as to the general public. Since 1947 the strongest wind gust at Luqa was on March 2nd 1949 when a maximum gust of 61 knots was recorded.

The overall monthly average wind speed measured at Malta Airport was 7.5 knots which is lower than the monthly climate average of 10.2 knots. The most frequent wind direction last month was from the West Northwest.

A total of 58.4mm of rain fell last month at Luqa which is higher than the climate March norm of 41 mm. The wettest day was the 4th of the month with a total of 20.4 mm. This month we had nine days (16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 25th, 26th, 28th and 29th) when dew was measured. The highest March rainfall on record occurred in 1953 with a total of 144.6 mm, while the driest one was that of 1977 with just 0.4 mm.

With a mean temperature of 13.1°C, this March was cooler than the normal March mean temperature of 13.4°C. During the first two weeks of March the mean temperature was well below the norm but in the last 10 days the temperature increased to well above the mean. The highest temperature registered at Malta Airport was 20.4°C on the 28th of the month while the minimum temperature of 6.9°C was recorded on the 13th March.

A mean relative humidity of 81% was recorded last March, which is a little higher than the expected March mean of 79%

The mean sea temperature last month was 15.1°C which is close to the March norm of 15°C.

Thunder was heard on March 5th and 10th while hail was also recorded on the same days – which is within the average number of thundery and hail days for the month of March.

This month we had two days with fog, on the 17th and 23rd when the visibility at Malta Airport decreased to below 1,000m.

We had an average of 7 hours and 36 minutes of bright sunshine, which is 24 minutes more than 7 hours 12 minutes mean period of sunshine per day for March.