Met Office issues 41 weather alerts in under two months
Last year, 17 warnings were issued throughout January up until mid-February
The Met Office issued a staggering 41 weather warnings in the first two months of the year as Malta was battered with wind, hail and thunderstorms.
During the same period last year, the Met Office had issued just 17 warnings.
While January and February are typically the coldest, windiest and wettest months of the year, the weather has been particularly unsettled at the beginning of 2026.
The Met Office issues alerts when the weather has a high chance of becoming dangerous and ranks them according to severity. Yellow means low-level impact, orange indicates a higher risk, and red warns people to take action to keep themselves safe.
Between January and mid-February, the Met Office issued 32 civil warnings for the public and nine marine warnings for mariners. Of the 32 civil wind warnings issued, 23 were yellow, six were orange, and three were red.
“If we compare 2026 to 2025, there were only five civil wind warnings and three marine warnings issued in January 2025, and seven civil wind warnings and two marine warnings issued in February 2025,” a spokesperson for the Met Office said.
The first two months of the year have been characterised by extreme weather.
In January, a rare weather event saw the country blanketed in hail, with children turning the white stuff into ‘snowmen’ and enjoying the unusual scenes.
But, within days, Storm Harry brought two days of devastation with winds of up to 95 kilometres per hour that toppled trees and damaged coastal restaurants and infrastructure. Following the storm, the transport ministry announced a €1 million fund to compensate private property damage caused by the storm and not covered by insurance policies.
At the end of the month, a child was swept out to her death at sea as waves crashed onto the road at Ċirkewwa.
February brought little respite from the stormy weather, with two days of carnival impacted by strong winds.
The weather is forecast to be mainly sunny today, with wind returning tomorrow and Saturday before a sunny start to next week.