Temperatures set to hit 29°C this weekend, four degrees above average
Met Office says people should expect an early 'St Martin's summer'
This weekend could see Malta experience an early is-sajf ta’ San Martin (“St Martin’s summer”), or ‘Indian summer’, with temperatures set to reach 29 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the Meteorological Office said.
Is-sajf ta’ San Martin refers to warm and dry conditions normally experienced in mid-November, coinciding with the feast of St Martin.
The upcoming weekend will be sunny and warm, with moderate to strong northwesterly winds expected Friday, veering to a light south-southwesterly breeze by Sunday, when temperatures are expected to shoot up five degrees, the Met Office said.
Sunday’s high of 29°C will be four degrees higher than the mean maximum temperature for October.
The weekend warm spell is expected to be short-lived, however, with changes in windspeed and direction causing temperatures to drop to an estimated high of 22°C on Tuesday.
The Met Office said it was forecasting a “notable rise” in temperatures brought on by a high-pressure system developing over the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, blocking incoming storms and leading to clear skies, light winds and warmer temperatures.
“In essence, it’s a brief pause from the cooler autumn weather and a short return to more summery conditions”, the Met Office said.
It noted that "despite last weekend’s unsettled conditions, particularly on Saturday evening," rainfall in October remained below the monthly quota of 77.8 mm.
"Between Saturday and Sunday, 11 mm of rain were recorded, bringing the month’s total so far to 71 mm."
Dry September
Last month was “significantly drier than average”, the Met Office said, noting September marks the beginning of the new precipitation year – measuring the total rainfall over a 12-month period.
September saw just 7.4mm of rain, a staggering 51.8mm below the monthly quota.
The mean temperature last month was 25.6°C, “slightly above” the climatic norm of 24.9°C for that month, while the highest recorded temperature was 34.4°C, recorded on September 2. The lowest was 18.1°C, measured during the last night of the month.
“September was also sunnier than average, with a mean of 9.3 hours of sunshine per day, though less windy than usual, with an average wind speed of 6.2 knots.”