October was 0.5 oC cooler than the average as well as drier, the Met Office at Malta International Airport said today.
The average temperature last month was 20.2 °C.
The mean maximum temperature last month was 23.4 oC, which was 0.8 oC lower than the mean maximum norm. This trend was similar to October of last year.
The warmest days last month were October 1 and 7 with a maximum temperature of 26.6 °C. The lowest temperature was 11.8 °C on October 20th. The coolest October night was on October 30th 1978, when the temperature fell to 8.0 oC.
The average sea surface temperature was 23.5 °C, which was 0.6 °C higher than the average value for October since 1978.
The wind speed, averaging 7.7 knots was slightly higher than expected for a typical October. For 70% of the time it was in the light speed bracket (1-10 knots). The West NorthWest was the most frequent direction. On October 23rd the maximum gust reached 39 knots from the West by North.
The monthly average humidity reached 75% which was lower than the 30-year mean. No days of fog were registered There were 3 days with thunderstorms (on the 1st, 2nd and 11th), which was three days less that the average number of thunderstorms experienced during October for the past 30 years. The stormiest October was that of 1962 with 12 thunderstorm days.
Precipitation last month totalled 61.2 mm at Luqa airport, which was below the October climate norm by 28.8 mm. The highest amount of rainfall ever recorded at Luqa airport in October was in 1951 with a record total of 476.5 mm.