February may have started off on a relatively warm note, with the month’s air temperature peaking at 19.4°C on its second day. But a sharp drop in air temperatures to a frosty low of 3.7°C on the 23rd, coupled with a mean minimum temperature of 8.7°C, led it to become the second coldest month to ever be recorded by the Meteorological Office.

As temperatures plummeted between the 23rd and 24th, strong winds battered the Maltese islands and whipped up rough seas. Gusty winds blowing from a north-easterly direction reached 54 knots, forced the cancellation of a number of highly-anticipated outdoor events, including the Malta Marathon.

Windy conditions continued throughout the weekend, with gusts greater than or equal to 34 knots being recorded until the 25th of the month. While these winds were among the strongest to be registered in recent years, the highest wind gust was actually recorded on February 4, 1955, reaching 70 knots, which is equivalent to approximately 130km/hr.

Heavy rain also poured down on the parade of carnival enthusiasts whose floats were due to be exhibited the following week. In fact, a total of 43.8mm fell on February 23, amounting to almost half the amount of rain received by the Maltese islands throughout February.

Registering a total of 93mm of rainfall spread out over 11 days, this month was the second wettest February to be recorded since 1923. Thunderstorms and hail were also a common occurrence throughout the month, with double the norm of thundery days rattling the islands on six occasions, and three reports of hail received by the end of February.

Despite the inclement weather which characterised the last weekend of the month, February’s cloud cover, at 3.5 oktas, was slightly lower than the climate norm and the total sunshine hours exceeded the amount expected at this time of year.

As the clouds gradually started to clear, the Maltese islands enjoyed their fair share of sunshine, boasting an above-average mean of 6.9 hours of sunshine per day, amounting to a monthly total of 192.2 hours. Basking in 10.1 hours of bright sunshine, Valentine’s Day was the brightest day of the month.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.