A total of 17 wind warnings were issued by the Meteorological Office in the first 22 days of April, two of which were for gale-force winds.
April has been a windier month than the norm this year, as wind speeds have exceeded the typical mean speeds typically recorded at this time of year.
While strong winds are to be expected during April, a spokesperson for the Met Office said so far, wind speeds have exceeded the mean wind speed typically reached in April.
“While the mean wind speed for April is 9.5 knots, the mean wind speed for this April so far stands at 12.8 knots.”
Wind speeds are compared on a 30-year mean stretching from 1991 to 2020.
This is the highest number of wind warnings the Met Office has issued in April in the past five years, although the number has been reached historically in other months. In March 2015, a total of 20 wind warnings were issued.
The wind has proved to be rather disruptive throughout April, with windy weather seeing many traditional Good Friday activities cancelled.
On Thursday, as winds reached gale force at different points throughout the day, a woman was lucky to escape injury as the wind pulled her sliding glass door out of its runner as it crashed down inches from where she had been sitting.
Plastic bags at the Magħtab landfill were also blown out of the facility and into the surrounding rural area and blown towards the sea.
The phenomenon, the Met Office said, could be chalked up to a depression moving upwards from Africa.
“On Thursday, a depression over Algeria moved to the east of Malta by noon. This led the east-southeast wind to become strong to a very strong, locally reaching gale force,” the spokesperson said.
“During the afternoon, this low pressure continued to move eastwards and by evening, the wind had decreased to moderate, with the direction veering from south southeast to northwest.”
The strong south southeasterly wind carried sand from the Sahara Desert, which in the afternoon and evening gave the skies orangey hues. The sand even reached the ground leaving a sandy deposit.
The sand affected the visibility reducing it to 2,500m at Luqa Airport.
The wind is expected to decrease to become light and variable by Sunday.