Rain marks hopeful start for November

November has so far yielded 10.4 millimetres more of rain than all of last month and farmers are hoping with despair for a wet winter.

At the Meteorological Office, the readings so far are of 33.3 millimetres for the first four days of this month, compared to the mere 22.4 millimetres for all of October.

Chief meteorological officer Saviour Porter said that an anticyclone had kept the rain away in October, leading to 60 millimetres less of rain than the past 30 year average.

The anticyclone, an area where the atmospheric pressure is high and usually associated with fine weather, persisted over the central Mediterranean for most of October.

This fine weather led to about 48 minutes more of sunshine a day than in the last 30 years, with a mean temperature of 21.3°C, which is more or less the average for the month, Mr Porter said.

The highest temperature for last month was 27.8°C, 6.7 degrees less than the highest temperature ever recorded, in October 1999, when the mercury recorded 34.5°C.

Mr Porter said the wind in October was predominantly west to northwest and, on average, the month was calmer with a mean speed of 6.4 knots (7.4 mph).

The highest wind gust, which reached 32 knots (37 mph) from the west, was on October 12.

The wettest October was in 1951, when 476.5mm of rain was recorded. The driest October was that of four years ago, when only 10mm was measured.

In terms of rain, November has brought a ray of hope for the farmers and Association of Farmers general secretary Peter Axisa said that the rain was a welcome blessing for the crops which had just had been sown or planted.

November signals the start of the main crop season with farmers planting mostly potatoes and cereals.

"The cereals will not germinate until it rains sufficiently, which is a good thing. The problem will arise when the crops germinate and there is not enough rain," he said.

"Though the rain we have had has been very welcome it is not enough and we need rain in abundance - yet again it's better than nothing," Mr Axisa said.

Mr Axisa said he had known two years in a row of very little rainfall and he hoped that this would not be the third year running with hardly any rain.

"However, in the meantime we are keeping our fingers crossed and praying. It will be another month before we start panicking," he said.