Spring sunshine will make way for some much-needed rain this week, with forecasters predicting five days of gloomy and somewhat wet weather.

Saturday began with strong gusts of east southeast wind reaching up to force 6 on the Beaufort scale, with rain expected throughout the day. The strong winds have prompted a warning from the Malta International Airport weather station, valid until 10pm.

Winds will continue to howl overnight and into Sunday, which is also expected to be characterised by rain showers and cloud cover, before moderating on Monday and Tuesday.

Rain is expected to continue to fall in patches during those two days, before picking up momentum on Wednesday, March 25.

Wednesday will be windy with thundery showers, the forecasters expect, with force 6 southeast winds turning to northwest ones of equal strength.

While the rain is expected to dry up by Thursday, the winds will not: those force 6 northwesterly winds are expected to continue blowing through Friday and Saturday.

Temperatures will remain steady throughout, with highs of around 16 degrees Celcius and lows falling to around 12 degrees.

Malta went through an especially dry winter this year, with 15mm of precipitation in January being followed by the driest February on record, when just 0.6mm of rain was recorded.