April was  warmer than the average for the past 30 years, with a mean temperature of 16.4 °C, the MIA Met Office said today.  The average 30-year temperature for April is 15.5°C. 

The warmest day last month was the 10th, when the thermometer  reached 23.8 °C. The warmest April days ever recorded in Malta were in 1985 when a highest temperature of 30.7°C was reached on the 9th.

The lowest minimum temperature last month was 10°C and this was recorded on the 21st. The coolest April night ever recorded in Malta was that of the 10th April 1956 with a low of 4.4 °C.

A total of 28.8 mm of rainfall was recorded last month which was more than the 22.5 mm 30-year climatological norm for the month of April. But the highest precipitation in 24 hours of 15.4 mm registered last month was much lower than the mean of 92.4 mm for the month of April. The mean relative humidity last April was 76% which is lower by 1% than the average measured since 1951.

Last month we had an average wind speed of 8.7 knots, which is lower than the climatological mean of 10.3 knots. For 67 % of the time it was in the light speed bracket whilst for 5% of the time it was variable. The WestNorthWest was the most frequent wind direction and the highest gust last month, recorded on the 12th and 13th, reached 34 knots from the NorthWest by West. The strongest gust ever measured at the airport in April was 56 knots (103.7 km/hr) and this was on April 15th 1969.

The lowest grass-height temperature last month was 5.8°C on the 7th and 21st of the month. The lowest ever recorded grass-height temperature in April was -0.5 °C also on the 3rd of the month but in 1965.

The average sea surface temperature last month was 16.8 °C. This is warmer than the average value for April since 1978.

Last month was sunnier than normal - we had an average of 8.5 hours of bright sunshine which means a total of 18 minutes more sunshine than the official 1961-1990 climatological record for April. The brightest day was the 17th with 12.1 hours, whilst the dullest was the 30th with no bright sunshine at all.

 Fog was observed on the 3rd, 10th and 11th which reduced the visibility at Malta International Airport to less than 1km.

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