Last month was second wettest September

In spite of 14 rain days and 259.5mm of rain measured at the Malta International Airport, last month did not break any records and was only the second wettest ever - September 1997 retains the dubious honour of being the wettest September ever, with 266.9mm of rain.

The largest amount of rain to fall in a one month period was in October 1951, when 476.5mm of rain drenched the Maltese islands, the Met Office said yesterday.

The rainiest 24-hour period last month was Sunday 14 to Monday 15, when a total of 100.8mm fell. During the same period around 216mm were measured at the Birkirkara automatic weather station.

The wettest September day, since records started being kept at Luqa in 1947 by the Meteorological Office, was eight years ago, in 1995, on the 27th of the month, with 112.7mm.

Thunder was heard on 10 days, which is three times the amount normally expected.

Last month's maximum temperatures, with an average of 27.5°C, were one degree cooler than expected for the month of September. However, as in the past months, the nights were almost a degree warmer than the average for the past 30 years.

The average sea temperature was 26.5°C, not as high as the 26.8°C registered in 1999 and 26.6°C in 1994.

The average wind speed last month was 6.5 knots (7.5 mph or 12 kilometres per hour), slightly lower than expected.

http://www.maltairport.com/weather