If you found your car covered with sand and dried rain droplets after its monthly wash, do not despair, as the sun is on its way with temperatures reaching 30°C next week.

Malta International Airport is forecasting a high of 22°C and 26°C on Monday and Tuesday. It will soar to 29°C on Wednesday, feeling like 30°C.

These temperatures will be above the usual mean of 19.6°C although the hottest temperature recorded for April was 29.1°C on April 9, 1985.

A spokeswoman for the airport said that based on 30-year year mean between 1986 and 2015, the average high temperatures were: 19.2°C for the first 10 days of the month, 19.6°C for the following 10 days, and 20.8°C during the remaining days.

However, the warm temperatures so far do not translate into a heatwave.

A heatwave only occurs when the daily maximum temperature exceeds the average maximum temperature by five degrees Celsius for at least three consecutive days. So far, the current five day forecast from the meteorological office does not reach these highs.