Mean air and sea temperatures slightly warmer last month

The mean temperature last month, at 23.9 °C was 0.5 °C more than the norm, the Met office said this morning. The warmest June was 2003 with a mean temperature of 26.1°C, whilst the coolest was that of 1933 with 20.9 °C.

The temperature last month rose significantly from the 21^st onwards, to the average temperature to 31.6°C.

The warmest days last month were the 26^th and the 30th, when the thermometer at the Meteorological Office at Malta International Airport reached 33.0 °C. But the highest June temperature reached since 1923 was that recorded on 13^th June 1997, when the temperature peaked to 40.1°C.

The wind speed in June, averaging 7.4 knots was what one would be expected in a typical June, the Met office said. For 77 % of the time it was in the light speed bracket (1-10 knots) whilst for 23% of the time it was more than 10 knots. The Northwest by North was the most frequent direction.

The lowest grass-height temperature last month was 12.3 °C recorded on the 1st of the month. The lowest ever recorded grass-height temperature in June was 6.1 °C on the 8^th June 1978.

The average sea surface temperature last month was 22.1 °C. This is slightly more than one degree warmer than the average value for June since 1978.