Last month was the third wettest October since 1951, according to Meteorological records.

The Met Office said in a statement that following the heavy precipitation on October 24 and 25 and the additional rainfall over Luqa Airport in the rest of the month, a 230mm of rainfall was registered.

Apart from exceeding the climate norm of 89.7mm, the total amount made last month the wettest October since 1951.

There were 10 days with thunderstorms, four days more than the climate average. The stormiest October was that of 1962 with 12 thunderstorm days.

With an average temperature of 20.6°C, October days were slightly cooler than average. The mean maximum temperature was 23.2°C, a degree lower than the mean maximum. This reduced trend is similar to October last year.

The warmest day last month was the 4th with a maximum temperature of 26.3°C. The lowest temperature - 12.4°C was recorded on October 30.

Malta Airport Met Office records show that the coolest October night was on October 30, 1978, when the temperature fell to 8°C.

The lowest grass-height temperature last month was 8.5°C which was also recorded on the 30th.

The average sea surface temperature was 23.4°C, 0.5 °C higher than the average value for October since 1978.

The wind speed, averaging 7.6 knots was slightly higher than expected for a typical October. For 76% of the time it was in the light speed bracket (1-10 knots). The west northwest was the most frequent direction. On October 18 the maximum gust reached 37 knots from the northwest by west.

The monthly average humidity reached 79 per cent, one per cent higher than the 30-year average.