Monday, 22nd May was the hottest day ever for May since temperature records began in Balzan way back in 1987. In fact, Monday’s maximum temperature at Balzan was that of 36.2 degrees Celsius which means about 10 degrees higher the average maximum temperature for May.
The previous record for May was recorded on 25th May 1994 when the temperature rose up to 34.5 degrees Celsius. Monday’s maximum temperature of 36.2 degrees beat this record by 1.7 degrees.
The high temperature on Monday was an effect of a rather lazy high pressure system that has been lingering over the central Mediterranean for the past few days. On Monday, the Maltese Islands were on the eastern side of this upper ridge of high pressure. Winds are usually rather light around a high pressure system and this was the case in the past few days too. This gave the air enough time to heat up day after day. On Monday, the hot and extremely dry air over northern Africa was carried over to the central Mediterranean from the Tunisian coast.
However, not all areas around the Maltese Islands were affected in the same way. The maximum temperature at Rabat was that of 32.1 degrees, at Mellieha it went up to 30.2 degrees, at Nadur, Gozo only 29.5 degrees and at Victoria, Gozo it was 30.8 degrees. However, at Balzan and Msida the maximum temperature today was 36.2 degrees and 36.8 degrees respectively. This was because of the much longer land tract at these locations since the wind on Monday was from the WSW.
For Tuesday, temperatures are still expected to be hot with maximum temperatures around 33-35 degrees Celsius, while as from Wednesday temperatures will be cooler (around 28-31 degrees) as northwesterly to northeasterly winds begin to affect the central Mediterranean.
See MaltaWeather.com for the latest live weather reports from various locations around the Maltese islands, as well as a 5-day weather forecast.
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