Coldest March in 16 years

Cold continental air streaming past an anticyclone over western and central Europe resulted in the coldest March in 16 years, with a mean temperature of 12.7°C, the Meteorological Office said yesterday.

Malta also experienced the coldest daytime temperature in 54 years when, on March 16, the highest temperature reached was only 8.7°C.

The coldest March ever recorded by the Meteorological Office was 1953 with a mean temperature of 11.4°C.

Two years ago, Malta experienced the warmest with a mean of 16.9°C.

The highest temperature last month, 17.7°C, was recorded on March 11 while the coldest night was March 22 with a low of 6.2°C.

The highest temperature ever recorded in March was 33.5°C in 2001, whilst the coldest night since records began by the Meteorological Office in 1923, was 2.2°C in 1949.

Rainfall at the airport was 55.4 mm, which is 14.5mm more than the mean, bringing the total since September to 680 mm.

The wettest day was March 15 with 28mm of rain. However on the whole, the sun shone for 24 minutes a day more than the average for the month.

No thunderstorms were observed at the airport during the month.

March 1953 was the wettest since records began with 144.6 mm, whilst the driest was 0.4 mm in 1977.

The wind in March was also lighter than expected with an average wind speed of 7.2 knots (8.3 mph/13.3 kph) compared with a 30-year mean of 9.9 knots (11.4 mph/18.3 kph).

Updated weather information and forecasts are accessible on website.

www.maltairport.com/weather