Last year was Malta’s third hottest on record, with an average annual temperature of 19.88°C.

The Meteorological Office said that since records started to be kept in 1923, the heat recorded last year was only exceeded twice before: in 2001 (19.94°C) and 1999 (19.9°C).

Last year was also brighter, drier and less windy than the average for Malta.

The hottest month of the year was September, which was also the hottest month on record, with average temperature soaring beyond 34°C.

Meanwhile, December was the coldest with average temperature dropping to 7.7°C, and a rare form of precipitation appearing in the form of snow pellets.

The hottest day was August 14, when the mercury soared to 34.7°C, while the coldest day was December 31, when temperatures dropped to 2.8°C — this was the second coldest day ever recorded in Malta since 1923.

On the whole, Malta enjoyed an average of 8.4 hours of sunshine each day, exceeding the daily average norm by 0.4 hours.

The brightest month was July, enjoying an average of 11.77 hours of bright sunshine and the clearest blue skies, with an average cloud cover of 1.3 oktas.

Meanwhile, the dullest month was December, seeing only an average of 5.51 hours of sunshine and March the cloudiest, reaching an average of 4.4 oktas. 

Between January and December, there was less rainfall and less wind than what is usually experienced across Malta.

Total rainfall registered was 504.3mm, 48.7mm below the yearly average of 553mm. In total, 34 days of thunder were recorded, nine days of fog and six days of hail.