March slightly cooler than average

The average temperature of 13.4°C recorded in March by the Meteorological Office of Malta International Airport was slightly lower than the average for that month.

However, although the first third of the month was about three degrees centigrade cooler than average, the latter part was around two degrees warmer.

The Met Office said that with a total rainfall of 7.8 millimetres, March was rather dry.

The average March rainfall for the past 83 years, that is since the Met. Office started keeping records at Pietà and later at Luqa, is 42.6 millimetres. This makes the total rainfall last month about a fifth of the average. The wettest March was that of 1925 with 178 mm.

The highest temperature recorded at the airport last month was 22.6°C on March 27. The warmest March day since records began at the airport was that of March 25 in 2001 when the mercury peaked at 33.5°C.

The thermometer last month dipped to its lowest point at 4.6°C on March 9, while with 2.2°C, March 3 and 5 in 1949 were the coolest March nights since 1923.

For most of last month, barring a few days, a vast anticyclone or area of high atmospheric pressure was the predominant feature. This covered most of western Europe and the Mediterranean and produced fine weather over most of the area - ideal conditions for the formation of fog. In fact there were six days last month when fog hid the airport. This is an unusually high number of fog days for March, as previously only 1981 and 1961 had a similar amount.

The Met. Office is Malta's National Meteorological and Hydrological Service appointed by the government to provide weather services to the community.

www.maltairport.com/weather