With just 29.6 millimetres of rain being measured in September, the month was much drier than the norm, which averages 59.2mm.
In a statement on Friday, the Meteorological Office said September’s wettest day came six days into the month amid a week of unstable weather and produced 11.2 mm of rainfall.
On the same day, the office also recorded the month’s strongest wind gust, which blew from the north-northeast at 34 knots. Having maintained an average wind speed of eight knots, September was windier than expected at this time of year.
Following the instability of September’s first days, fairer weather returned with the temperature peaking on the 19th day at 34°C, exceeding the norm for the maximum temperature by 5.4°C. However, at 25°C, September’s mean air temperature was only slightly higher than the norm of 24.9°C.
On the other hand, the sea surface temperature averaged 26.9°C and was 5.7°C higher than the norm.
While September days saw an average of 8.6 hours of daily sunshine, the brightest day clocked 11.7 hours of sunshine and the bleakest, which fell at the beginning of the month, was completely sunless.
By the end of September, the Meteorological Office measured 258 hours of sunshine, making the month slightly sunnier than the norm.
The records were broken not just in Malta. Much of the world sweltered through unseasonably warm weather in September, with the average surface air temperature of 16.38 degrees Celsius being 0.93C above the 1991-2020 average for the month and 0.5C above the previous 2020 record.
Expected weather
A high-pressure area located over the central Mediterranean is expected to bring about more sunshine and higher-than-average temperatures in the coming days.
Stable weather, together with southerly winds, expected to blow from Monday, are set to create the perfect conditions for the temperature to rise from a maximum of 27°C on Saturday to 30°C by mid-week.
However, a change in weather, brought about by the cooler northwesterly winds, can be expected at the end of the week.