The average rainfall for October is said to be around 88mm.
If you think it hasn’t rained enough this October enough...well, you’re right! As reported by Temp Madwarna on Facebook, October 2023 has been the driest October in the last century! In fact, we’ve been experiencing persisting heat, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going away anytime soon.
However, even though we haven’t experienced an October this dry in a century, according to statistics quoted by this weather page, there were many years in which October produced less than an inch of rainfall, even way before climate change was a topic of discussion.
The driest Octobers since 1844 happened in 1859, 1911 and 1923 with 0.0mm of rainfall.
• Ottubru 1855 - 7.6mm
• Ottubru 1859 - 0.0mm
• Ottubru 1889 - 7.4mm
• Ottubru 1903 - 5.8mm
• Ottubru 1911 - 0.0mm
• Ottubru 1923 - 0.0mm
• Ottubru 1926 - 5.8mm
• Ottubru 1927 - 11.9mm
• Ottubru 1933 - 3.6mm
• Ottubru 2005 - 4.0mm
This October, a total of 1.1mm of rainfall was measured from a localised cloud that formed over Zebbuġ on the 1st day of the month. The average rainfall for October is said to be around 88mm.
In contrast, in 1951, 476.5mm were measured in October in Luqa and some localities even exceeded 500mm, or almost as much as the annual average (570mm) in one month!
There are still a few days to go for October to come to a close. Will we be seeing any rainfall?