Although very little rain fell last month, it was almost twice the average amount of rainfall for May.
The Met Office said in a statement that a total of 11.8 mm of rainfall was registered. The highest amount of rainfall ever recorded for May was in 1976 with a total of 49.1 mm.
There were thunderstorms on only two Sundays - May 20 and on Sunday, compared to the average of four days since 1951.
May, the Met Office said, was 0.3oC warmer than Malta’s 30-year climate mean. A higher average temperature was not reached due to a phase of lower than average temperature registered between the May 15 and 25.
The warmest day last month was the 26th when the thermometer at the METOffice’s official sites reached 26.9°C, which is below the climate average for May. The warmest May days ever recorded were in 2006 when 35.3°C was reached on the 23rd.
The lowest temperature last month was 12.3°C on May 1. The coolest night since 1923 was on May 4, 1970 with a low of 8°C.
The average sea surface temperature last month was 19°C, 1.5oC warmer than the average value for May since 1978.
May was less sunny than the 30-year climatological norm for the month – there was an average nine hours and six minutes of sunshine a day, a total of 36 minutes less sunshine than an average May. The brightest day was May 26 with 13 hours and 12 minutes whilst the dullest May 14 with only 54 minutes of sunshine in an otherwise cloudy day.
The wind speed in May averaged 9.3 knots (17.2 kilometres per hour). This was 0.5 knots lower than the average speed for May since 1947.
For 62 per cent of the time it was in the light speed bracket. The northwest by west was the most frequent direction and the highest gust last month, recorded on May 15, reached 36 knots (67 kilometres per hour) from the west.
The strongest gust ever measured at the airport in May was 53 knots (98 kilometres per hour) and this was in 1951 and 1954.
The Meteorological Office said it was now publishing online a five-day forecast of heat stress indices, which evaluated the body stress caused by the combination of the forecast temperature and humidity.
www.maltairport.com/weather.