November - drier and warmer than normal

Meteo Malta said today that November 2010 was the second driest November since its rainfall records started being kept in 1985.

This was in sharp contrast to the previous two months, particularly October, which was one of the wettest Octobers on record.

November 2010 received only around 10% of the average total rainfall for the month with only 11.6mm compared to the average of 108.6mm.

The driest November ever was in 1992 with 6.9mm.

With a mean temperature of 18.7 °C, November 2010 was also 0.7°C warmer than average.The warmest November on record was that of 1992 with a mean temperature of 19.5 °C while the coolest was that of 1998 with a mean temperature of 16.1°C.

As has been the norm for the past few months, temperatures were particularly warm during the night with November's average monthly minimum temperature of 16.1°C being 1.1°C above average, Meteo Malta said.

The warmest night was on the 9th with a low of 21.6°C while the coldest night was on the 20th with a minimum temperature of 12.3°C. The chilliest November night on record was in 1995 when at dawn of the 23rd the temperature dropped to just 5.7°C above freezing.

The mean monthly temperature for November was 21.3°C - this was 0.3°C above average. The highest temperature recorded was 24.8°C on the 1st day of the month. The highest November temperature ever reached since records began in 1987 was 28.9°C in 1990.

The most frequent wind direction was from the WSW with an average wind speed at Zebbug Malta of 14.7km/h. The strongest gust of 75.8km/h occurred on the 9th during gale force winds brought about by a very powerful low pressure system over western Europe.

www.meteomalta.com.