September rainfall was more than the norm

A total of 77.4 mm of rain fell last month at Luqa Airport, which was more than the September climatological norm of 40.4 mm. The wettest day was September 23^rd with a total of 56.2 mm, the MIA Met Office said.

The wettest September on record was that of 1997 with 266.9 mm and the driest one was that of 1943with no rain at all.

No hail was recorded last month, but thunderstorms were noted on the 10^th, 24^th and 25^th of September, which was within the norm for the past 57 years.

The stormiest September was that of 1955 with 11 days followed by that of 2003 with 10 thunderstorm days.

There was one day with fog when the visibility at Malta International Airport was reduced to less than 1 km.

With an mean air temperature of 24.6°C, September days were slightly warmer by 0.5°C than the climatological norm for September.

As to temperature extremes, the lowest minimum temperature last month was 17.5 ^oC, recorded on the 24^th. This was 4.3 ^oC higher than the minimum for the past 61 years.

The coolest September night occurred on the 21^st in 1969, with a minimum of 13.2°C. The lowest grass minimum temperature was also warmer by 9.4 ^oC than the minimum registered during the past 61 years.

But the highest maximum temperature of 32.4 °C, recorded on September 5^th, was 5.0 ^oC lower than the maximum for the past 61 years. The hottest September days on record were those of the 9^th and 10^th of 1924, when a maximum temperature of 38.9°C was reached.

The mean sea temperature was 1.7 ^oC warmer than the climatological norm of 24.8 ^oC.

The monthly mean humidity reached 73%, which was 4 percentage points less than the climatological norm.

The wind at Malta International Airport last month had a mean speed of 6.4 knots and with 87 % of the time within the light wind speed bracket (1 to 10 knots) bracket. The most frequent direction was the Northwest by West and the strongest gust was 48 knots from a South by West direction on the 24^th of the month.