“Clear skies, mild air temperatures, and just over 163 hours of sunshine made for generally pleasant December weather as a year brightened by more than 3,033 hours of sunshine came to a close,” the Met Office share in a statement revealing a roundup of the islands’ weather for 2020.
“The last month of the year was also windier than expected, sustaining a mean wind speed of 10.4 knots compared to the climate norm of 9.1 knots. Blowing at 37 knots from a south-west direction, December’s maximum gust was recorded eight days into the month.” Boy, oh boy did we feel the chill!
“A look at meteorological data for 2020 shows that the maximum gust of the year was recorded in February, blowing from a north-west by west direction at a speed of 50 knots.” (Well, we all know what happened in February: #Dnegel). The Met Office noted that following a “drier-than-average January” which saw only 0.6mm of precipitation, was what became “the driest February on record since 1923.
Things all changed in March when things took a turn in the weather department. The third month of the year showered the Maltese islands “with 39.4mm of precipitation and kick-starting a wetter-than-average meteorological spring, during which 85.4mm of rainfall were collected.”
maltairport.com
Fast forward past summer… “Producing 121.2mm of rainfall – almost a third of all precipitation collected in 2020 – September claimed the title of wettest month of the year,” the Met Office shared. However, the islands fell a little short overall, registering a total of 386.9mm total precipitation for 2020, not measuring up to the “annual rainfall quota of 567.0mm.”
“September was not only the wettest month but also the stormiest, accounting for nine thunderstorms out of a total of 23 reported by the Meteorological Office last year.” Ticcajta! It was quite the crazy month.
Moving on, the Met Office also gave a temperature roundup. “Throughout the year, the air temperature ranged between a crisp low of 5.1°C, recorded in January, and a high of 38.7°C reached on the fifteenth day in August.” #VivaSantaMarija! “While August was the hottest month, with 19 days exceeding the month’s climatic mean maximum temperature of 31.7°C, July was the sunniest with 365.6 hours of summer sunshine recorded.”
There you have it, folks! That’s the weather roundup for 2020. For more weather updates head to their website.