Last month was slightly warmer than the climate average norm for the month when compared to the climate benchmark norm of the last 30 years, the MIA Met Office 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.

During the first 13 days of June the maximum temperatures were below or close to normal. The temperature started to get warmer towards mid-June until it soared to a maximum of 35.3°C on the 22nd of the month.

The persisting area of high pressure over the central Mediterranean and the associated light winds and generally clear skies contributed to these high temperatures.

The maximum temperature started to cool slightly on the 25th and kept below the average mean for this period of the year.

June's lowest minimum temperature was 13.8°C and this was recorded on the 1st. The coolest June night since 1947 was that of 7th June 1975 with a low of 12.6°C.

The average sea surface temperature was 21.1°C, which was 0.2°C higher the norm for June.

Last month's humidity was 62% which was lower than the climate norm of 71%.

During June Malta had two  days with fog, on the 8th and 9th; one day with thunderstorm on the 1st; and 0.2mm precipitation recorded as dew on the 8th.Wind speed in June averaged 8.5 knots, which is 0.3 knots more than the climate norm. For 67% of the time it was in the light speed bracket (1-10 knots) whilst for 7% of the time it was variable.

The Northwest by West was the most frequent direction. On June 2nd a maximum gust of 33 knots was recorded from the West direction.

June 2012 was sunnier than usual with an average of 11.6 hours of sunshine a day, which was 0.7 hours more than the climate norm. The brightest days were the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th with 13.1 hours of sunshine, whilst the dullest was the 1st with 2.5 hours.

In total Malta had 347 hours of bright sunshine.