Malta had considerably less rainfall last month than is the norm for January, according to figures issues by the MIA's Met Office.
Total rainfall registered last month at Luqa Airport amounted to just 56.6 mm. That was 34.0 mm less than the January norm.
In contrast, the highest amount of rainfall recorded during January was in 2009 when a total of 248.2 mm of rain fell over the Maltese islands.
The average temperature last month was 13.4°C, making it warmer than the January norm for the mean air temperature by 1.2°C.
The warmest day was the 7th when a highest temperature of 20.3°C was measured at Luqa airport. However this did not exceed the highest temperature ever recorded in January at Malta International Airport since 1947, which was that of 22.2°C measured in 1982.
January nights, with an average temperature of 11.5°C were also warmer by 1.9°C than the climate norm. The coolest night last month was the 20th when the thermometer reached a minimum at 7.1°C.
The lowest temperature on record for January was that of the January 29, 1981 when the temperature was only 1.4 degrees above freezing.
Last month thunder was heard on three days, the 12th, 13th and the 30th but no hail was recorded at Luqa airport. Fog was observed on the 7th of the month when the visibility was reduced to less than 1 km.
The mean sea temperature was 16.5 oC which is warmer than the January norm of 15.2°C since 1977.
The monthly mean humidity reached 74%, which is 5 percent less than the climate norm.
The mean wind speed measured at Malta International Airport was 10.0 Knots, and for 58% of the time it kept within the light speed bracket. The strongest gust was 42 knots from the West on the 13th. The strongest gust measured by the Meteorological Office in January was 61 knots recorded in 1951, 1978 and 1994.
With a mean of 5 hours and 42 minutes of bright sunshine a day last January. This means that we had 36 minutes more sunshine than the average January sunshine. The brightest day was the 31st with 9 hours and 54 minutes of sunshine, whilst the dullest was the 16th with just 6 minutes of sunshine.