While most of Europe is sizzling in record temperatures, with people searching all means of cooling down, the temperature in Malta - wedged as it is between record warm Europe and hot Africa - is nothing extraordinary for this time of the year, Saviour Porter, chief meteorological officer at the Malta International Airport said when contacted.

News bulletins have shown people in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Portugal, among other countries, taking to the beaches in their thousands and zoo keepers improvising ingeniously to keep the animals in their keep as comfortable as possible in the heatwave recorded.

Mr Porter pointed out that the reason why most people in Europe have to shield themselves from the scorching heat while the temperature in Malta was comparatively mild was because anticyclones had become stationary over Europe.

"An anticyclone consists of a high pressure area. Once an anticyclone remains stationary, the air becomes warmer, particularly inland.

"The warm air descends vertically, is compressed and in the process it becomes even warmer because of the effect of compression."

This is practically what has happened in Europe and especially in Britain on Sunday, when the temperature soared to a record 37.7° Celsius, beating a 1990 record of 37.1° Celsius.

In Malta the average maximum temperature for August over the last 30 years was 31.5°C. During August, so far this year, the temperature registered by the Met Office in Luqa has been about one to two degrees above this average maximum.

The temperature in Malta is close to the average maximum, and not higher, because no anticyclone has become stationary over the Central Mediterranean while the sea breeze helps to lower the temperature.

A steady wind such as a north westerly could in fact push up the temperature slightly, the closer to the centre of the island one gets.

But such north westerly winds would on the other hand bring in a cool breeze to those areas that are closer to the sea.

For example, the temperature at Luqa would on a particular day be warmer by about two to three degrees compared to, say, Blata l-Bajda, which is closer to the sea, Mr Porter noted.

If a south easterly wind is blowing, the temperature would not rise much but the air would become clammy and uncomfortable.

Mr Porter recalled August 9, 1999 when the mercury in Malta hit 44°C.

On August 7 and 8 of that year, a light south westerly wind had swept in hot air from the desert in North Africa into the Mediterranean, creating an anticyclone.

The anticyclone led the warm air to subside, pushing up the temperature through compression, leading the thermometer at Luqa to register 43.6°C at 5 p.m. and 43.8°C between 5 and 8 p.m.

To show the difference between what happens when an anticyclone occurs, The Times is reproducing a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration satellite picture which was taken on August 9, 1999, very close to the time of the record temperature, while the other was taken yesterday morning.

The pictures were made available by the Met. Office.

Of particular interest in the first picture (left) is a band of high level thunderstorms extending from Algiers to the northern Adriatic and to the former Yugoslavia, while there are mobile weather systems over the UK and Northern Europe producing isolated thunderstorms.

In the second picture, taken yesterday (right), one can make out a cold front moving eastwards over southern Britain, while some isolated thunderstorms may be seen over northern France, northern Spain and eastern Algeria.

The air over the UK was considerably cooler yesterday than on Sunday and slightly cooler weather should move towards northern France and Germany by today and tomorrow.

"We do not expect any significant change in air temperature for the next three to five days over the central Mediterranean including, of course, Malta," Mr Porter added.

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