February did not live up to its proverbial reputation of being a wet month after recording just 7.8mm of precipitation, much less than the average 56.9mm of rain. 

The Meteorological Office on Friday said that last month went down on record as the sixth driest February since 1923, closing off a dry winter during which 141.0mm of precipitation – a little more than half the expected seasonal rainfall - was collected.

While rainfall was in short supply, 567.4 hours of sunshine made for a brighter-than-average winter season.

All three winter months were, in fact, sunnier than the norm, with February clocking up almost 46 hours of sunshine more than the quota for this time of year.

A mean cloud cover of 2.6 oktas, which was lower than the monthly norm of 4.1 oktas, can be partly credited for the extra hours of sunshine enjoyed throughout February. 

However, not all February days were sunny.

With a maximum cloud cover of eight oktas throughout most of the day, February 7 was overcast and, consequently, sunless.

On the same day, the month’s maximum air temperature of 21.8°C was recorded, shortly before an arctic air mass started moving towards the Mediterranean, eventually reaching the Maltese islands and bringing the temperature down to a minimum of 5.8°C on February 15. 

This temperature was also the lowest minimum for winter.

Following a windy December and January, whose average wind speeds stood at 10.4 knots and 10.8 knots respectively, February breezed in with calmer weather.

Averaging at 9.3 knots, the wind speed for the month was slightly lower than the norm of 9.5 knots. February’s maximum gust was recorded on the eighth day of the month, blowing at 41 knots from a north-westerly direction.