December was the fifth driest recorded in 88 years, which explains why many were still sporting short sleeves and swimming last month while the rest of Europe heaved under piles of snow.

A total of 31.2mm of rain fell at Luqa Airport, much less than the December norm of 112.2 mm, according to the Meteorological Office.

The wettest day was December 16 with a total of 16.2mm. The highest December record was that of 1970 with 302.6mm and the driest one was in 1925 with just 11.2mm of rain.

While northern parts of Europe experienced very cold weather last month, the mean air temperature at Luqa airport was 14.5°C, which makes it 0.6°C warmer than the local climate norm for December.

With regard to temperature extremes, the highest maximum temperature of 23.5 °C – recorded on December 9 and 23 – was 0.8oC lower than the maximum for the past 61 years. The warmest December day on record was December 5, 1963, when a maximum temperature of 24.3°C was reached.

The lowest minimum temperature last month was 4.6oC, recorded on December 17. This makes it one degree higher than the minimum ever recorded during the past 61 years.

The mean sea temperature was 18.7oC, warmer than the norm of 17oC for the past 32 years.

Last month also saw 160.7 hours of bright sunshine, more than the norm for the past 14 years. The sunniest December day was the 7th with 9.1 hours of sunshine, while the dullest days were the 1st, 3rd and 23rd with no sunshine.