Sunnier but slightly cooler November

With seven hours of sunshine a day, the average norm for this month was up by about an hour, the Meteoroligical Office said.

It said in its monthly weather release that throughout November a total precipitation of 35.9mm was registered at Luqa airport, well below the November climate norm of 80mm.

The highest precipitation in 24 hours was 13mm compared to the climate November norm of 162.5mm.

Since 1922, the highest November rainfall ever at Luqa Airport was on November 10 with a total of 162 mm.

The lack of rain was due to a stable high pressure system over the Maltese islands that started from November 11 and persisted till almost the end of the month.

There were 10 days during which enough dew was formed to measure 2.8mm. This was when the ground cooled down and lowered the air temperature just enough to allow the formation of dew.

The monthly average humidity reached 79 per cent, which is slightly higher than the 30-year mean.

Two days with fog were registered at Luqa airport on the 18th and 19th. There was only one day with thunderstorm. This is considered to be low compared to the November mean of four days. The stormiest November was that of 1962 with 12 thunderstorm days.

A mean temperature of 16.9 degrees Celcius was recorded. This is slightly cooler than the average 30-year November mean.

The recorded mean monthly day maximum of 20.1 degrees was the same as the climate norm, while the mean minimum temperature was slightly below the norm by 0.2 degrees. The lowest grass minimum temperature last month was 7.4 degrees. The mean sea temperature was 20.4 degrees, slightly higher than the November norm of 20.3 degrees.