Hottest May day on record

Yesterday was the hottest May day since records started being kept by the Meteorological Office 84 years ago, as temperatures soared for the second consecutive day.

The mercury reached 35.3°C which is 10 degrees higher than the average for this time of the year, the Met. Office said yesterday.

The warmest May days before yesterday were those of May 22-23, 1945 when the thermometer showed 34.4°C at its highest point. Although the winds were generally from an easterly or southeasterly direction, the atmosphere above the central Mediterranean was continuously descending from the upper levels to the ground, thus becoming warm and dry through being compressed, a process called subsidence.

A weak front is expected to pass over the Maltese Islands tomorrow bringing along some cloud. Temperatures will go down to the mid to high 20s as a moderate northwesterly wind brings with it some cooler air.

www.maltairport.com/weather