Last month was the warmest April in 90 years, the MIA Met Office said today.

The mean temperature was 17.7°C, 2.2°C warmer than the 30-year mean. The day mean maximum temperature was 21.6°C, which was warmer than the norm while the night mean minimum temperature was 13.7°C – also warmer than the norm.

The warmest day last month was on the 13th, when the thermometer at the Malta Airport Met Office reached 25.2°C. The warmest April day ever recorded in Malta was on the 9th April 1985 when temperature reached 30.7°C.

The lowest minimum temperature was 10.5°C on the night between 6th and 7th April. The coolest April night ever recorded in Malta was that on the 10th April 1956 with 4.4°C.

A total of 18.6 mm of rainfall was recorded last month which was 3.9 mm less than the 30-year climatological norm for the month of April. The highest hourly precipitation rate for this month was 14 mm/hr on the 2nd. The mean relative humidity was 75% which is less than the climatological norm of 77%.

The mean wind speed in April was 9.7 knots. This is lower than the climate norm of 10.3 knots. For 59 % of the time the wind was in the light speed bracket whilst for 7% of the time it was variable. The east by north was the most frequent wind direction with 56 hours. The highest gust last month, recorded on the 25th, reached 43 knots from the east direction. The strongest gust ever measured at Malta Airport in April was 56 knots (103.7 km/hr) and this was on 15th April 1969.

The average sea surface temperature last month was 16.2°C. This is warmer than the climate value of 15.9°C for April.

There were two days with thunderstorms in April, the 2nd and 3rd and one day with fog on the 28th, when the visibility at Malta Airport went down to 250 meters.

Last month was sunnier than normal with an average of 8.5 hours of bright sunshine which meant a total of 254 hours. The brightest days were the 15th and 19th with 12.4 hours, whilst the dullest was the 26th with no hours of bright sunshine.