2009: Weather
by MeteoMalta
A mixed winter
Statistics for January show that it was slightly warmer than normal. And although it was a very wet January with 194.0mm of rainfall and 25 days of rain, this was by no means a record.
February was colder and wetter than usual although it broke no records. This cold weather had in fact persisted for most of the second part of the month.
Mean temperatures for February showed air temperatures to be 1.0°C below average when compared to the normal February mean since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. However, the extreme minimum temperature of 5.3°C at Balzan was not a record.
Thunder was heard on 4 days there were 9 days with hail, which was well above the average number of days with hail for the month of February.
A poor, cool, rainy spring
The mean temperature for March was 14.2°C which is 0.4°C colder than the average since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987.
The highest wind gust, recorded on the 4th, was 109.2km/h (59 knots) from a southerly direction. This wind gust, registered at 21.53 local time, caused some damage, including damage to the historical Xarolla windmill and the protective shelter being installed over Mnajdra Temples.
April was the wettest April since 1994 with 52.1mm of rainfall at Balzan. Most of this rainfall (39.3mm or 75%) fell in a rather wet period of 4 days from 20th to 23rd April. The average rainfall for April is 27.3mm in 10 days of rain. There were also 2 days with thunderstorms, one of which consisted of just one lightning bolt that hit Mosta and surprised residents there early in the morning of the 23rd.
That night, the torrential rain, coupled with winds which reached gusts of gale Force 9 in places, had uprooted trees, flooded houses, damaged boats and left hundreds of motorists stranded. It had also caused thousands of euros worth of damage to buildings and cars, and there were widespread power cuts. 131.5 mm of rain had fallen during that night in Balzan.
Interestingly, there were 4 days with what is known as blood rain. This is rain mixed with red-coloured sand from the Sahara Desert in northern Africa.
The first few days in May were rather cool but it warmed up suddenly with summer temperatures around the 18th of the month. It was also a dry month.
The warm sunny weather also warmed up the sea considerably with the sea temperature now at a warm 21°C with many Maltese already taking the plunge to cool themselves in the sea from the hot air temperatures. The sea temperature is considered to be well above average for this time of the year.
A burning summer
June was the fourth month this year to be cooler than average with the mean monthly temperature of 24.2°C being 0.3°C cooler than the average since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987.
The highest temperature reached in June was 32.2°C on the 10th. There were only two days of rain.
Cool June was to mislead the Maltese as the rest of summer was very hot.
July was an average month with the mean monthly temperature of 27.4°C being only 0.2°C higher than the average since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987.
Saturday 25th July 2009 was the hottest July day at Balzan in eleven reaching 39.2°C. However, other places in Malta had even higher maximum temperatures today, such as Zejtun with 41.7°C.
The high temperature on 25th July was due to an advancing high pressure system moving in from Africa carrying very high temperatures from the African continent. Besides, the high pressure causes the air in the atmosphere to sink thus compressing and drying it and raising the temperature even higher.
Another factor in this combination of high temperatures was that the wind remained strong enough from the NW to prevent the sea breeze from forming. This meant that temperatures could not cool down and also meant that the southeastern part of Malta ended up very hot since the air had to pass over most of Malta and got heated on the way. The Civil Protection Department were called to put out some 40 grass fires all over the country throughout the day.
August was even hotter than average especially at night. In fact, August nights were the warmest ever since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. The mean monthly minimum temperature of 24.9°C equalled the previously-held record in 1999.
The mean monthly maximum temperature of 32.1°C was only slightly above average with the mean monthly temperature of 28.5°C being warmer than average by 0.8°C. August 2009 was the hottest August since that infamous August of 2003.
Despite registering a hotter-than-average August, there were no extremes with the highest temperature 'only' going up to 34.8°C on the 2nd August.
There was only a trace amount of rain measured at Balzan, but other places got some rain, especially Zabbar on the 29th August with 37.4mm during a local thunderstorm which affected mainly the Cottonera area. The light northeasterly sea breeze met the light westerly gradient wind just above this area.
September had the warmest nights ever for September with the mean monthly minimum temperature of 22.6°C being 1.0°C above average. However, maximum temperatures were 0.5°C cooler than average which meant that the month ended up only slightly warmer than average by 0.3°C.
In September 76.9mm of rain was measured a bit above the average.
There were three notable weather episodes in September. The first was a squall line crossing the Maltese Islands on the 9th of the month which spawned a number of funnel clouds and at least one waterspout at around 6.30pm. The second consisted of strong winds on the 23rd that whipped up rough seas in Birzebbuga and, to a lesser extent, Marsaxlokk. Two cabin cruisers broke their moorings in Birzebbuga. The highest wind speed in Mellieha was 98.1km/h (Force 10) at around 9.45pm with an average wind speed at around 10pm of 79.3km/h (Force 9).
The third weather episode was heavy rain on the 24th where a section of the bastion wall near police headquarters in Floriana collapsed just before 10.30am, blocking the road. The wall borders Argotti Gardens and appears to have collapsed after that morning's heavy rain, most of which fell in just 45 minutes.
A cool but rainless autumn
October was a cool month with mean temperatures being 1.0°C below average.
As regards rainfall, October was an average month with 70.3mm - this was only 0.4mm short of the average of 70.7mm.
There were three notable weather events in October. The first was a low pressure system with heavy rain and thunderstorms moving in an easterly direction over Sicily during the night of 1st/2nd October that killed at least 22 people in the Messina region but also affected Malta, although to a much lesser extent as no one was injured and no damage was caused.
The second notable weather event was a low pressure system with heavy rain showers, especially in the northeastern parts of Malta that produced a large waterspout which lasted about 20-30 minutes at around 1.30pm on the 14th October.
The third notable weather event was another large waterspout that was observed in the Malta-Gozo Channel for about 10 minutes at around 11.30am on the last day of the month.
November was cool but very dry with rain falling on only 6 days of the month for a total of just 27.1mm of rainfall recorded at Balzan compared to the average of 112.5mm. The reason for such a dry November was due to a very dominant high pressure system over most of the Mediterranean for most the last 2 weeks of the month.
The average temperature was 17.4°C -- the coolest November since 2002 and cooler by 0.6°C than the average temperature of 18.0°C.
The only notable weather event in November was an isolated thunderstorm at around noon on the 9th affecting mainly Victoria in Gozo that produced some large hail around 2cm in diameter (confirmed) or possibly even a bit bigger (not confirmed). The hail storm lasted around 10 minutes. There was quit a lot of wind shear on that day.
December
December's weather will be reported in January 2009.
For the latest forecasts, weather reports and archives see MaltaWeather.com
by MeteoMalta
A mixed winter
Statistics for January show that it was slightly warmer than normal. And although it was a very wet January with 194.0mm of rainfall and 25 days of rain, this was by no means a record.
February was colder and wetter than usual although it broke no records. This cold weather had in fact persisted for most of the second part of the month.
Mean temperatures for February showed air temperatures to be 1.0°C below average when compared to the normal February mean since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. However, the extreme minimum temperature of 5.3°C at Balzan was not a record.
Thunder was heard on 4 days there were 9 days with hail, which was well above the average number of days with hail for the month of February.
A poor, cool, rainy spring
The mean temperature for March was 14.2°C which is 0.4°C colder than the average since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987.
The highest wind gust, recorded on the 4th, was 109.2km/h (59 knots) from a southerly direction. This wind gust, registered at 21.53 local time, caused some damage, including damage to the historical Xarolla windmill and the protective shelter being installed over Mnajdra Temples.
April was the wettest April since 1994 with 52.1mm of rainfall at Balzan. Most of this rainfall (39.3mm or 75%) fell in a rather wet period of 4 days from 20th to 23rd April. The average rainfall for April is 27.3mm in 10 days of rain. There were also 2 days with thunderstorms, one of which consisted of just one lightning bolt that hit Mosta and surprised residents there early in the morning of the 23rd.
That night, the torrential rain, coupled with winds which reached gusts of gale Force 9 in places, had uprooted trees, flooded houses, damaged boats and left hundreds of motorists stranded. It had also caused thousands of euros worth of damage to buildings and cars, and there were widespread power cuts. 131.5 mm of rain had fallen during that night in Balzan.
Interestingly, there were 4 days with what is known as blood rain. This is rain mixed with red-coloured sand from the Sahara Desert in northern Africa.
The first few days in May were rather cool but it warmed up suddenly with summer temperatures around the 18th of the month. It was also a dry month.
The warm sunny weather also warmed up the sea considerably with the sea temperature now at a warm 21°C with many Maltese already taking the plunge to cool themselves in the sea from the hot air temperatures. The sea temperature is considered to be well above average for this time of the year.
A burning summer
June was the fourth month this year to be cooler than average with the mean monthly temperature of 24.2°C being 0.3°C cooler than the average since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987.
The highest temperature reached in June was 32.2°C on the 10th. There were only two days of rain.
Cool June was to mislead the Maltese as the rest of summer was very hot.
July was an average month with the mean monthly temperature of 27.4°C being only 0.2°C higher than the average since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987.
Saturday 25th July 2009 was the hottest July day at Balzan in eleven reaching 39.2°C. However, other places in Malta had even higher maximum temperatures today, such as Zejtun with 41.7°C.
The high temperature on 25th July was due to an advancing high pressure system moving in from Africa carrying very high temperatures from the African continent. Besides, the high pressure causes the air in the atmosphere to sink thus compressing and drying it and raising the temperature even higher.
Another factor in this combination of high temperatures was that the wind remained strong enough from the NW to prevent the sea breeze from forming. This meant that temperatures could not cool down and also meant that the southeastern part of Malta ended up very hot since the air had to pass over most of Malta and got heated on the way. The Civil Protection Department were called to put out some 40 grass fires all over the country throughout the day.
August was even hotter than average especially at night. In fact, August nights were the warmest ever since temperature records began at Balzan in 1987. The mean monthly minimum temperature of 24.9°C equalled the previously-held record in 1999.
The mean monthly maximum temperature of 32.1°C was only slightly above average with the mean monthly temperature of 28.5°C being warmer than average by 0.8°C. August 2009 was the hottest August since that infamous August of 2003.
Despite registering a hotter-than-average August, there were no extremes with the highest temperature 'only' going up to 34.8°C on the 2nd August.
There was only a trace amount of rain measured at Balzan, but other places got some rain, especially Zabbar on the 29th August with 37.4mm during a local thunderstorm which affected mainly the Cottonera area. The light northeasterly sea breeze met the light westerly gradient wind just above this area.
September had the warmest nights ever for September with the mean monthly minimum temperature of 22.6°C being 1.0°C above average. However, maximum temperatures were 0.5°C cooler than average which meant that the month ended up only slightly warmer than average by 0.3°C.
In September 76.9mm of rain was measured a bit above the average.
There were three notable weather episodes in September. The first was a squall line crossing the Maltese Islands on the 9th of the month which spawned a number of funnel clouds and at least one waterspout at around 6.30pm. The second consisted of strong winds on the 23rd that whipped up rough seas in Birzebbuga and, to a lesser extent, Marsaxlokk. Two cabin cruisers broke their moorings in Birzebbuga. The highest wind speed in Mellieha was 98.1km/h (Force 10) at around 9.45pm with an average wind speed at around 10pm of 79.3km/h (Force 9).
The third weather episode was heavy rain on the 24th where a section of the bastion wall near police headquarters in Floriana collapsed just before 10.30am, blocking the road. The wall borders Argotti Gardens and appears to have collapsed after that morning's heavy rain, most of which fell in just 45 minutes.
A cool but rainless autumn
October was a cool month with mean temperatures being 1.0°C below average.
As regards rainfall, October was an average month with 70.3mm - this was only 0.4mm short of the average of 70.7mm.
There were three notable weather events in October. The first was a low pressure system with heavy rain and thunderstorms moving in an easterly direction over Sicily during the night of 1st/2nd October that killed at least 22 people in the Messina region but also affected Malta, although to a much lesser extent as no one was injured and no damage was caused.
The second notable weather event was a low pressure system with heavy rain showers, especially in the northeastern parts of Malta that produced a large waterspout which lasted about 20-30 minutes at around 1.30pm on the 14th October.
The third notable weather event was another large waterspout that was observed in the Malta-Gozo Channel for about 10 minutes at around 11.30am on the last day of the month.
November was cool but very dry with rain falling on only 6 days of the month for a total of just 27.1mm of rainfall recorded at Balzan compared to the average of 112.5mm. The reason for such a dry November was due to a very dominant high pressure system over most of the Mediterranean for most the last 2 weeks of the month.
The average temperature was 17.4°C -- the coolest November since 2002 and cooler by 0.6°C than the average temperature of 18.0°C.
The only notable weather event in November was an isolated thunderstorm at around noon on the 9th affecting mainly Victoria in Gozo that produced some large hail around 2cm in diameter (confirmed) or possibly even a bit bigger (not confirmed). The hail storm lasted around 10 minutes. There was quit a lot of wind shear on that day.
December
December's weather will be reported in January 2009.
For the latest forecasts, weather reports and archives see MaltaWeather.com