Dry, cooler days but warmer nights in August

August was cooler than average even though the mean air temperature last month was 0.1°C higher than the 30-year mean average for August, the Meteorological Office said.

It explained that the mean maximum temperature recorded was 0.4°C less than the norm and the main factor that led to a slight increase of the mean air temperature was warmer nights: 0.6°C higher than the 30-year mean average for the same month. The lowest night time August temperature ever recorded was on August 27, 1972, when the temperature dropped to 15.9°C.

The Met Office said that last month was also characterised by light northwesterly winds. The strongest gusts were 29 knots from a northwest direction on the 16th. The strongest gust at Malta International Airport ever recorded was 72 knots from the northwest on October 11, 1981.

The mean humidity recorded last month was 4 percent less the 30-year August mean. However, the second and fourth weeks of last month maintained a humidity level of more than 60 percent, with a resultant increase in the heat stress index.

The mean sea surface temperature was 27.3°C, or 1.5°C higher then the August norm.

No rain was registered throughout the whole month. This was indeed a dry month when compared to the 30-year mean August norm of 5.3mm.