Maltese weather is notoriously unpredictable, so it comes as no surprise that we’ve become so reliant on the weekly forecast. 

Back in the day, however, our ancestors didn’t have this luxury...  

That’s why local weather page It-Temp Madwarna took to social media to explain the ‘l-irwiegel’ system – a system that our ancestors used to employ to predict the following year’s weather. 

From 13th December up until the 24th, Maltese farmers would take note of each day’s weather and associate it with a corresponding month the following year. 

“The l-irwiegel are worked out by having each day from the 13th to the 24th of December represent a month from the incoming year. Every day would be split into three parts – the morning, the afternoon, and the evening, which would then represent the three different parts of the corresponding month,” It-Temp Madwarna explained. 

To put this into perspective, 13th December would represent January, 14th December would represent February and so on. 

“In our opinion, this method has no scientific basis and is purely superstitious,” the weather page warned its readers – so you’re probably better off sticking to the weekly forecast... 

Do you take note of l-irwiegel?