The cooler breeze of summer

The evening temperature has been cooler than usual over the past days, forcing some of those having their regular walk along promenades in different parts of the island to carry that extra top.

Others were doubting the stability of the traditional Maltese summer, which officially commenced last Sunday.

Is this the effect of global warming?

Kenneth Chase, duty forecaster at the Meteorological Office of the Malta International Airport, explained yesterday that the maximum temperature over the past couple of days was lower than the average.

A strong pressure gradient and relatively high winds were caused by a low pressure system over the Tyrrhenian Sea moving towards the Adriatic Sea and a ridge of high pressure extending from the Atlantic towards Libya.

"The rather strong to strong wind started last Sunday and lasted till Wednesday. There were other instances in past years when we had strong winds in June, so this year is not exceptional, wind-wise. Stronger winds tend to keep the maximum temperature from rising too much", said Mr Chase.

Quoting statistics, Mr Chase said the 30-year mean maximum temperature over the last 10 days of June, between June 21 and 30, based on Met Office records between 1979 and 2008, was 30.4°C. The maximum temperature for the past few days were 27.4°C on Sunday, 25.3°C on Monday, 24.4°C on Tuesday, 24.6°C on Wednesday and 27.9°C up to late yesterday afternoon.

Mr Chase said the Met office was not expecting strong winds over the coming days.

It might have been cooler but the weather has certainly been good, in sharp contrast with the situation elsewhere in Europe.

Italy, for example, was over the past week battered with a violent storm in which four people drowned, while at least 10 people died in flooding in the eastern Czech Republic.

Lower Austria, some 90 kilometres west of Vienna, experienced three days of heavy rain. The Albertina, one of Vienna's most famous museums, said it would remove hundreds of thousands of precious works of art from its depots after it was flooded.

Heavy rainfall left many of the streets flooded and stopped traffic in the southern Serbian city of Nis. Rain also led to floodings and road blocks in the southern German state of Bavaria.

Meanwhile, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon and the mayor of New York announced plans to launch Climate Week NYC on the sidelines of a UN summit in September to galvanise public support for a landmark global warming treaty by year's end.

The event, to be held on September 21-25, will feature five days of cultural events, workshops, seminars and other activities organised by non-governmental organisations, businesses, artists, and academia.

Mr Ban said it would coincide with the summit he would be hosting at the UN headquarters on September 22 "to mobilise the political momentum needed to seal the deal in Copenhagen (in December) on a fair, effective and scientifically-ambitious new climate framework".

The UN hopes to wrap up negotiations in Copenhagen in December on a new global warming deal to replace the Kyoto protocol on cutting carbon emissions.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in early 2007 that global warming, if unchecked, would unleash a devastating amalgam of floods, drought, disease and extreme weather by the end of this century.