January-February warmest in 52 years

With a combined mean temperature of 14.1°C, January and February taken together were the warmest over the past 52 years, the Meteorological Office said yesterday.

They were, however, not the warmest in the 85-year history of the Malta International Airport's Meteorological Office. The warmest were January and February of 1955 with a combined mean temperature of 14.5°C.

February, with a mean temperature of 13.8°C, was 1.4°C warmer than average. Daytime temperatures, hitting a mean of 16.8°C, were 1.5°C warmer than average and indeed were the warmest February temperatures over the past nine years. The warmest day last month was February 15 with a high of 18.8°C.

With a mean of 10.8°C, nights last month were 1.1°C warmer than average. The night of February 5 was the coldest when the mercury dropped to 4.9°C.

Measuring just 17.8 mm, rainfall last month amounted to under a third of the average for the month.

The mean wind speed in February was 9.2 knots, which is somewhat below average. The highest gust, recorded on February 13, reached 48 knots from a north-westerly direction.

The brightest day was February 17 with 10 hours and six minutes of bright sunshine and the sky was completely overcast on two days, namely February 22 and 24.

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