Weather statistics compiled by the Meteorological Office over more than 80 years supports international climate change predictions for the Mediterranean: higher temperatures and less rainfall.

Since 1922, when local weather statistics started being compiled, average temperatures in August - when the mercury reaches its highest level - have increased by some two degrees Celsius, Met Office manager Charles Galdies said.

Rainfall, on the other hand, is lower, although not significantly. Interestingly, the amount of rain falling within a given 24-hour period is increasing, said Dr Galdies. In a nutshell, when it rains, it pours.

The statistics were presented on World Meteorological Day yesterday, which is gaining greater recognition as climate change is increasingly recognised as the biggest challenge facing the globe today.

Dr Galdies said these long-term trends in Maltese weather appear to support climate change predictions for the Mediterranean region.

His words come after fresh warnings from Lord Nicholas Stern, whose report on the social and economic costs of global warming acted as a wake-up call to the world in 2006. Speaking at an emergency climate summit in Copenhagen, he said that what was previously seen as the worst case scenario - temperature increases of four, five or even six degrees by the end of the century - was becoming a growing possibility and would produce "devastating" conditions not seen on Earth for more than 30 million years.

Concerns about climate change led the European Union to set ambitious targets on renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction among others but a global agreement remains elusive.