The average temperature in October was 21.1°C, which was 0.4C cooler than the recorded average during the past 30 years, the Met Office at MIA said today.

The lowest temperature last month was 14.7C recorded on 6th. The lowest ever recorded temperature during October was that on October 30th 1978, when the temperature fell to 8.0C.

The monthly average humidity reached 80% which was slightly higher than the 30-year mean. This was the only significant weather variable that was higher than the 30-year mean.

A total of 60.6 mm of rain fell last month at Luqa Airport, which was less than the 30-year October mean rainfall of 72.5 mm. The wettest day last month was the 22nd with 15.2 mm. The occurrence of hail was recorded on the 4th. The wettest October on record was that of 1951 with 476.5 mm and the driest was that of 1923 with 1 mm of rain.

There were 7 days with thunderstorms last month, 2 days more that the average number of thunderstorm events experienced during the month of October for the past 30 years. The stormiest October was that of 1962 with 12 thunderstorm days.

The wind at Malta International Airport last month had an average speed of 5.4 knots and with 92 % of the time within the light wind speed bracket (1 to 10 knots) bracket. The prevailing wind direction was from the East and the strongest gust was 31 knots from a Southwest direction on the 4th of the month. The strongest gust at Malta International Airport ever recorded was 72 knots (83 mph or 133 kilometres per hour) from the Northwest on the 11th of October 1981.

Malta had on average of 6.7 hours of sunshine a day, meaning that the month was less sunny by 18 minutes than the average October months during the last 30 years. The sunniest day was the 5th of October with 10.5 hours, whilst the dullest was the 17th with just 6 minutes of bright sunshine.