Wettest January in 33 years

Last month was the second wettest January in the last 83 years and slightly cooler than the average for that month in the last 10 years, the Meteorological Office said yesterday.

With 22 days of rain, the 215.9 mm of the rainfall was well above the average, by 130 mm. The wettest January on record since the Met Office starting keeping records was that of 1973 when 225.6 mm drenched the Maltese Islands.

The heaviest downpour last month, 48.6 mm, occurred on January 8.

The Met Office said that with a mean temperature of 12.3°C, January was also half a degree cooler than the average for the past 10 years.

The daytime, with a mean maximum temperature of 14.8°C, was cooler by almost a degree. The coolest day was recorded on January 24 with 11.4°C.

January nights were slightly warmer than the 10-year average, but only by just 0.1 of a degree. The average night temperature was 9.9°C. The coolest night was January 23, at 5.4°C.

The lowest temperature on record for January was that of January 29, 1981 when the mercury plunged to just 1.4 degrees above freezing.

More information is available on www.maltairport.com/weather.