St Valentine brings coldest weather

With a mean temperature of 11.9°C, last month was colder, by half a degree, than the average for the past 83 years.

The coolest Februaries, since the Meteorological Office, now forming part of Malta International Airport plc, started keeping records, were in 1929 and 1965 with an average temperature of 9.9°C.

February 7 was the coldest February day for the past 44 years when the mercury just made it to 8.7°C. However the record holder for the nippiest February day was in 1929 when on February 3 the highest temperature was a chilly 6.7 °C.

Last month's nights, with a mean temperature of 9.3°C, were slightly colder than the average with the coldest night being that of the 13/14 - St Valentine's Day - when the mercury plunged to 3.8°C. But the coldest night on record was that of between February 7 and 8, 1956 when the thermometer plunged to 1.7°C.

The Met. Office also keeps a daily record of the lowest temperature at grass height level, a few centimetres above the ground. The coldest it got, down there last month, was one degree below freezing - and that was on February 15.

With a total of only 37.2mm, rainfall was slightly more than half the average for the month. However, rainfall in February is, generally speaking, quite erratic, in that months of plenty are often followed by lean months. The highest amount, last month, 23.6mm, occurred on the afternoon and evening of February 23.

The day before that, a deep depression, or low pressure system, developed in the Algerian desert. This moved quite rapidly eastwards towards southern Tunisia, increasing in strength, forming rain bearing clouds and raising enormous sandstorms over much of the western part of North Africa. It then turned north-eastwards passing slightly to the north of the Maltese Islands around noon of February 23.

With an average of six hours and 24 minutes of bright sunshine a day, February was slightly sunnier than average. The brightest day was February 14 with 10 hours and 36 minutes of bright sunshine, while clouds completely obscured the sun on three days, namely February 1, 12, and 13.

www.maltairport.com/weather