June was slightly warmer than the climate average for this month, the Met Office at MIA said today.

The mean air temperature was 23.4 °C which was 0.4 °C more than the climate norm. The warmest June was that of 2003 with a mean temperature of 26.1°C, while the coolest June was that of 1933 with 20.9 °C.

With the exception of June 8th and 9th, the mean temperature was consistently below the climate norm for the first 18 days of the month. But the air temperature then steadily increased to a level above the norm by the end of the month. The highest air temperature of 32.6 °C was reached on June 29th, but did not exceed the record of 40.1 °C recorded on June 13th, 1997.

Last month's average minimum temperature of 18.9°C was also warmer than the climate norm by half a degree. The lowest minimum temperature was 16.4 °C and this was recorded on June 15th. The coolest June night since 1947 was that of June 7th, 1975 with a low of 12.6 °C.

The average sea surface temperature last month was 22°C.

A total of 4.4mm of precipitation was recorded at Malta International Airport which is higher than the climate norm of 3.2 mm for this month. The highest June rainfall since 1922 was recorded in 2007 with a total of 76.20 mm.

The wind speed in June averaged 7.4 knots and was less than the climate norm by 0.8 knots. For 76% of the time it was in the light speed bracket (1-10 knots) whilst for 10% of the time it was variable. The NorthWest by West was the most frequent direction. On June 9th a maximum gust of 30 knots was recorded from the Northwest.

June had an average of 10 hours and 51 minutes of sunshine a day, which is normal for this time of the year. The brightest days were the 18th and 28th with 13 hours and 12 minutes of bright sunshine, whilst the dullest was the 1st with just 3 hours and 36 minutes of bright sunshine.