Malta saw more than 200 hours of bright sunshine last month, which was substantially warmer and brighter than the island’s norm for what is usually one of the gloomiest months of the year, the Meteorological Office said.

It said in a statement that the average maximum temperature was 16.9^oC, and the average minimum 11.3^oC - both above the norm of 15.5^oC and 9.3^oC respectively. Last month had only four days where the mean temperature was below the norm.

Malta also had a mean of 7.2 hours of bright sunshine, which is 1.1 hours brighter than the norm of 6.1 hours. The brightest day was the 24th with 10.6 hours, while the dullest days recorded were the first and the 27th when there were no hours of bright sunshine. In total, February tallied a total of 202.3 hours of sunshine.

Rainfall was 2.7 mm less than the climate norm, reaching a total of 58.6 mm. The rainiest day registered was the first with 29.2 mm. The highest rainfall amount for February since 1947 was 187.9mm recorded in 1965.

This February, the mean temperature was 14.1^oC, 1.7^oC more than the climate norm of 12.4^oC. The highest temperature recorded was 20.4^oC, on the 15^th, while the lowest was 7.2^oC, on the seventh.