Winter finally came to Malta over the weekend, albeit in a much milder form than the icy weather causing chaos in large parts of Europe.

Still, after the unusually lengthy warm spell enjoyed by the island throughout November and December, the air has turned decidedly chilly.

The cold dominating neighbouring countries to the north has caught up with Malta because the large area of low pressure over the continent is moving south, according to the Meteorological Office.

The lowest temperature recorded yesterday was eight degrees Celsius, and the maximum 15 degrees. It marks a significant drop over last week's average of some 19 degrees Celsius but remains considerably higher than the record sub-zero temperatures seen on mainland Europe.

The conditions locally are expected to prevail throughout the week, with a slight rise in temperature towards the end of it. A strong southwesterly gale hit the island on Saturday but turned more moderate yesterday although it is expected to eventually pick up again.

The "big chill" that has gripped Europe over the past weeks has disrupted flights, blocked roads and forced trains to stop running in several countries.

The treacherous conditions cut off villages in northern Germany and on the Baltic islands, and disrupted rail traffic, with Eurostar only able to run two out of every three trains under the English Channel.

The weather, being blamed by forecasters on a rare depression called "Daisy", has seen average temperatures around certain parts of Europe plummet by up to 15 degrees Celsius below the norm.