Four consecutive days with wind gusts greater or equal to 34 knots were registered at the Meteorological Office last month.
The MetOffice said in a statement that a wind gust of 49 knots from the northeast was registered at Luqa airport on March 9. This was followed by gusts of 48 knots on the 10, 34 knots on the 11 and 36 knots on the 12.
Strong wind warnings were broadcast by the MetOffice to local authorities as well as to the public. Since 1947 the strongest wind gust at Luqa was on March 2, 1949 when a maximum gust of 61 knots was recorded.
The overall monthly average wind speed measured at Malta Airport was 7.5 knots, which is lower than the monthly climate average of 10.2 knots. The most frequent wind direction last month was from the west northwest.
A total of 58.4mm of rain fell last month at Luqa, which is higher than the climate March norm of 41 mm.
The wettest day was the 4 with a total of 20.4 mm. There were nine days 16 - 19, 21, 25 - 26, 28 - 29, when dew was measured. The highest March rainfall on record occurred in 1953 with a total of 144.6 mm, while the driest one was that of 1977 with 0.4 mm.
With a mean temperature of 13.1°C, March was cooler than the normal March mean temperature of 13.4°C. During the first two weeks of March the mean temperature was well below the norm but in the last 10 days the temperature increased to well above the mean.
The highest temperature registered at Malta Airport was 20.4°C on the 28 while the minimum temperature of 6.9°C was on March 13.
A mean relative humidity of 81% was recorded last March, which is a little higher than the expected March mean of 79%.
The mean sea temperature last month was 15.1°C which is close to the March norm of 15°C.
Thunder was heard on March 5 and 10 while hail was also recorded on the same days – which is within the average number of thundery and hail days for the month of March. There were two days with fog, the 17 and 23 when the visibility at Malta Airport decreased to below 1,000m.
There were an average of seven hours and 36 minutes of bright sunshine each day, 24 minutes more than 7 hours 12 minutes mean period of sunshine per day for March.