Weatherman reports another dry April

April showers are said to bring May flowers but last month did not live up to its name and for the ninth consecutive year April was drier than average, according to records held by the Meteorological Office.

For most of the time umbrellas remained unopened as a mere 15.2mm of rain was recorded at Malta International Airport, slightly more than half the amount expected in April.

The wettest April noted since records started being kept by the Met. Office in 1923 was nine years ago with 118.4mm. The driest was April of 1958 when literally just a few drops of rain were recorded.

With an average temperature of 15.4°C, April was quite a cool month when compared to previous years. In the past 10 years, only April 1997 was slightly cooler, with just a couple of points of a degree.

The coolest April ever recorded at the airport was that of 1980 with a mean temperature of 13.9°C and the warmest was April 1998 with 17.7°C.

The warmest day last month was April 26 when the mercury hit 27.4°C. The warmest April day ever recorded was April 9, 1985 when temperatures hit a warm 30.5°C.

Just before sunrise on April 23, temperatures reached the lowest point and stood at a chilly 7.8°C. The coolest night on record since 1923 was that of April 10, 1956 with a low of 4.4°C.

The predominant weather feature last month was an anticyclone covering most of Europe and sometimes extending towards the western Mediterranean with a series of depressions or low pressure systems over north and northwest Africa.

For a few days in the middle of the month, a complex low pressure system covered the area from northern Italy to central Libya. However, most of the weather it generated was over the Italian peninsula and most of south eastern Europe.

It was a rather quiet month with regard to the wind and for 89 per cent of the time it was light to moderate. The wind blew mostly from the south southeast. The average wind speed at the airport was 9.4 knots (11 miles per hour or 17 kilometres per hour) and the strongest gust recorded was on April 10 when it reached 44 knots (51 miles per hour or 81 kilometres per hour) from the northwest.

The lowest grass height temperature last month was 3.6°C on April 23. The lowest ever recorded April grass height temperature was -0.5°C on April 3, 1965.

The sun shied away last month and Malta had an average of seven hours and 42 minutes of sunshine a day - 18 hours less than in an average April.

The brightest day was April 23 with 12 hours and 30 minutes of sunshine whilst the dullest were the third and sixth days of the month when the clouds hid the sun completely.

The Meteorological Office of MIA is Malta's national meteorological service appointed by the government to provide weather services to the community. It has records dating from 1947 at the airport and since 1922 records from Pietà and Valletta.

The only official weather forecasts, reports and warnings are those issued by the Met Office, the office said.

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