Last year among warmest on record

The average temperature last year stood at 19.4°C, that is 0.3°C warmer than the average for the past 30 years, making 2006 one of the warmest since the Meteorological Office, now forming part of Malta International Airport plc, started operating in 1922.

The Met. Office said the warmest year ever recorded was 2001 with an average temperature of 19.9°C. The coolest was 1929, when the average temperature was 17.8°C.

The warmest month last year was July with a mean temperature of 27°C followed by August with 26.6°C.

The highest temperature recorded last year was 38.5°C on June 30. This was nowhere close to the record high of 43.8°C experienced on August 9, 1999.

The coolest month last year was February, with a mean temperature of 11.9°C, or 0.7°C cooler than the average. The coolest Februaries on record were those of 1929 and 1965 with a mean of 9.9°C.

The coldest night in 2006 was St Valentine's night with a low of 3.8°C.

The lowest temperature ever reached since records began in 1922 was on January 29, 1981 when the thermometer plunged to 1.4°C.

The Met. Office also keeps a record of the air temperature at grass height level. Last years' lowest temperature at that height was -1°C, recorded around dawn on February 15. The lowest grass height temperature ever reached was -5°C on January 9, 1966.

The Met. Office said that rainfall last year, totalling 539.7 millimetres, was only 25.2mm less than average. Nearly half of it fell in January.

The wettest year on record was 1951 when 955.6mm of rain was measured. The driest was 1961 with only 274.2mm.

The wettest day last year was January 8 with 48.6mm. The wettest day since 1922 was November 10, 1988 with 162.5mm.

There were 85 rain days last year, 22 of them in January and 15 in December. There were no rain days in July. On 11 days, including four in January, the rain was accompanied by hail.

November 1958 had the highest number of rain days - 25, followed by November 1988 and December 1990 - 23 days each.

There were 33 days when thunder was heard last year, including eight in January.

The sea temperature in 2006 averaged 20.4°C, slightly more than half a degree warmer than average.

The year with the highest sea temperature was 2001 with a mean of 20.9°C; that with the lowest was 1978 with 18.8°C.

The west northwest was the predominant wind direction in 2006 and the northerly the least frequent. At 7.3 knots (14 kilometres per hour) the annual average wind speed was 1.3 knots (2.4 kilometres per hour) lighter than the average for the past 30 years.

The highest wind gust was from a north-easterly direction and reached 45 knots (83 kilometres per hour) on February 1.

Fog shrouded the airport as well as most of Malta on four days last year.

On average, the country enjoyed eight hours and 18 minutes of sunshine a day, slightly more than the average of the past 78 years.

The brightest year was 1961 with 8.9 hours of sunshine and the dullest was 1976 with 7.5 hours of sunshine a day.

The Met. Office said that globally 2006 was estimated to have been the sixth warmest year on record since 1861 and 0.42°C warmer than the annual average of 14°C.

The year 1998 remained the warmest when surface temperatures averaged 0.54°C above the 30-year mean.

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