Be the first to comment!Winter in Malta was one of the stormiest experienced in 20 years
 Email item
|  Print item
|
|
Winter in Malta was exceptionally cold and stormy becoming one of the stormiest winters experienced in the past twenty years, the Meteorological Office at Malta International Airport said today.
Between late December and March, the Mediterranean islands saw at least 25 thunder storms, which is more than the norm of 13. March alone saw the most thundery days since 1951.
The persistent rainfall through the season resulted in it being one of the country’s wettest winters.
March was the third wettest month since 1994, registering a maximum rate of 20mm of rainfall per hour during storms.
February saw a total of 112.8mm of rainfall. This is also considerably more than the norm of 56.9mm.
During December, a total of 150.3mm of rainfall was collected when the norm is usually 104.8mm. In fact, the maximum precipitation recorded in a single day was on December 29th, when a total of 30.8mm of rain was collected, falling at a rate of 26.4mm per hour.
New Year’s Eve was the coldest December night to be ever recorded, when temperatures fell to 2.8 degrees Celsius. This generated a rare form of precipitation between the 30th and 31st December resulting in snow pellets.
The sea temperature in December averaged at 19.1 degrees Celsius, the second warmest sea surface temperature since 1977. In fact, the warmest sea surface temperature for December was recorded in 2006 at 19.3 degrees Celsius.
On January 9th, Malta experienced an unusual high mean sea level pressure registering a value of 1037.2hPa.
In total, winds were stronger than the norm last winter. The highest hourly mean wind recorded in Malta on January 12th and 23rd reached 38 knots from the North West and West by North direction respectively.
The highest wind gust of 44 knots from the North Westerly direction arrived on February 9th, followed by 42 knots from the North Westerly direction on March 30th.
Variations in air temperatures were also recorded, wherein the highest maximum temperature recorded in December reached 22.9 degrees Celsius while the lowest day maximum temperature was 7.7 degrees Celsius on New Year’s eve.
The lowest grass minimum temperature recorded on January 1st was -0.4 degrees Celsius.
These figures compare the winter season of 2014-15 with the weather records from 1981-2010 across the Maltese Islands.
Photographs of hail in Gozo, 30th December 2014. Top Photo by Alain Salvary and below by Jane Bower.
