It rained, hail fell over many areas and the wind was strong, but the weather last night was nothing out of the ordinary, despite the hype.

The MIA Met Office recorded a temperature of 6 degrees centigrade at Luqa overnight, and the mercury went slightly lower in some localities. But it was far from the record 1.4 degrees C reached on 29th January 1981.

Transport Malta this morning closed off Triq Garibaldi, Luqa due to safety concerns stemming from the weather. It said it had received a communication from the resources authority asking it to remove the trees lining the road following reports that they were posing a danger to traffic.

"In view of the circumstances and the prevalent wind a decision was taken to close the roads off immediately." As a result, traffic were   reported in the Marsa area.

The Met Office said the Northwest or West Northwest wind will stay strong over the Maltese Islands for most of today. It will also remain rather cloudy with showers which may be with hail at times and possibly thundery later. Temperatures will hover around 10C during the day and 5C during the night up to Thursday.

Transport Malta regrets any inconvenience.

GAS EMERGENCY IN ITALY

Italian government officials have admitted that their country is facing a potential gas shortage, as the cold snap caused demand to soar, while imports dropped.

Officials said last night that the country had enough supplies till tomorrow, but rationing of supplies to big industrial concerns has already started.

Industry Minister Corrado Passera said there had been a drop in supplies from Russia and France, but Italy was raising imports from Algeria and Northern Europe via Switzerland.

Some 20 people have died in Italy as a result of the cold weather and schools remain closed in many regions and cities, including Rome. Snow was recorded in most of the peninsula.