Despite longer days bathed in an average of 7.9 hours of sunshine, the average temperature in March was slightly lower than that of the previous two months.
Malta Airport's Meteorological Office said on Friday the average temperature in March was 13.8°C with the air temperature ranging between a low of 8°C, recorded on March 19, and a high of 20.5°C, on March 31.
Warm weather that day was accompanied by 11.4 hours of sunshine, making the last day of the month the brightest in a “sunnier-than-average” month.
Having maintained a lighter-than-expected mean cloud cover of 3.2 oktas, March outshone the climate norm for this time of year of 222.3 hours of sunshine by just over 24 hours, the Met Office said.
Generally pleasant weather was punctuated by a couple of stormy days.
Having yielded 8.4mm of precipitation – around 31% of last month’s lower-than-expected total rainfall, March 16 was the month’s wettest day. On the day, rain was accompanied by thunder and hail, and a maximum gust of 36 knots blowing from a west by north-west direction was recorded.
A week later, on March 23, the day was again characterised by rain, thunder, hail, and strong winds, which picked up speed to reach a maximum gust of 36 knots blowing from a north-westerly direction.
In general, March was slightly windier than the norm, with the wind speed for the month averaging at 9.6 knots, rather than the expected 9.4 knots, the Met Office said.
Weekend weather outlook
The Met Office said Friday’s gloomy weather is caused by a trough of low pressure, which is extending towards the Maltese islands from Algeria, and which is expected to move eastwards across the Ionian Sea to reach Greece by Saturday evening.
This pressure system is also what is giving rise to Friday’s very strong to gale force (F7-8) easterly winds, backing northeast by Friday evening, and becoming strong (F6) overnight.
Saturday morning, it said, is expected to be characterised by rather strong to strong (F5-6) north by northeasterly winds, which become northwesterly by evening and die down to Force 4-5. Light rain is forecast for the day, particularly in the morning, with the afternoon becoming partly cloudy.
Sunday is expected to start on a rather cloudy note, becoming partly cloudy as the day progresses.
Moderate (F4) northwesterly winds becoming west by northwest by evening are expected to make for a somewhat calmer Sunday, before the winds increase in strength overnight to become rather strong to strong (F5-6).
Maximum temperatures are expected to hover around the 16°C and 17°C marks throughout the weekend, dropping to a minimum of 12°C on both Saturday and Sunday, the Met Office said.