Climate of Malta

Malta has a Mediterranean climate according to the Köppen climate classification (Csa),^[2][3] with very mild winters and warm to hot summers. Rain occurs mainly in winter, with summer being generally dry. According to the Troll-Paffen climate classification^[4] and the Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification,^[5] Malta lies within the subtropical zone. According to International Living, Malta is the state with the best climate in the world.^[6]

Temperature

The average yearly temperature is around 23 °C (73 °F) during the day and 16 °C (61 °F) at night (one of the warmest temperature averages in Europe). In the coldest month – January – the typical maximum temperature ranges from 12 to 20 °C (54 to 68 °F) during the day and the minimum from 7 to 12 °C (45 to 54 °F) at night. In the warmest month – August – the typical maximum temperature ranges from 28 to 34 °C (82 to 93 °F) during the day and the minimum from 20 to 24 °C (68 to 75 °F) at night.

A winter day in Malta: mild temperatures, sometimes cloudy or rainy, green vegetation.

Generally, April is a transition month. Mid-April has temperatures from 17–22 °C (63–72 °F) during the day and 10–14 °C (50–57 °F) at night. November has temperatures from 17–23 °C (63–73 °F) during the day and 11–17 °C (52–63 °F) at night. However even in the colder months of the year (December, January, February and March) temperatures sometimes reach 20 °C (68 °F). Amongst all capitals in the continent of Europe, Valletta – the capital of Malta has the warmest winters, with average temperatures of around 15 °C (59 °F) during the day and 9 °C (48 °F) at night in the months of January and February. In March and December average temperatures are around 17 °C (63 °F) during the day and 11 °C (52 °F) at night.^[7] The average number of days above 32 °C (89.6 °F) is 15, most of which occur during July and August.^[8] In Malta large fluctuations in temperature are rare. Also, Malta is one of the few places in Europe which is "green" all year round (vegetation does not die during the winter). Malta is one of only a handful of locations in Europe with a USDA hardiness zone of 11a.

Daylight

Malta enjoys one of the most optimal arrangement of hours of daylight in Europe. Days in winter are not as short as in the northern part of the continent, the average hours of daylight in December, January and February is 10.3 hours^[9] (for comparison: London^[10] or Moscow^[11] or Warsaw^[12] - about 8 hours). The shortest day of the year - 21 December - sunrise is around 7:00 and sunset is around 17:00. The longest day of the year - 21 June - sunrise is around 5:30 and sunset is around 20:30.^[13]

Sunshine

As one might expect from Malta's high daylight hours, Malta enjoys around 3,000 hours of sunshine per year (also one of the highest in Europe), from an average of above 5 hours of sunshine per day in December to an average of above 12 hours of sunshine per day in July.^[1][9] Thus, Malta enjoys about twice the amount of sunshine as cities in the northern half of Europe. For comparison, London has 1,461 hours per year;^[15] however, in winter Malta has much more sunshine. For comparison, London has 37 hours^[15] while Malta has 161 hours of sunshine in December.^[1]

Sea temperature

Average annual temperature of sea is 20 °C (68 °F) (the highest annual sea temperature in Europe), from 15–16 °C (59–61 °F) in the period from January to April to 26 °C (79 °F) in August. In the 6 months from June to November, the average sea temperature exceeds 20 °C (68 °F). In May and December - the transition months - the average is around 18 °C (64 °F).

In the second half of April, which is the beginning of the summer/holiday season the average sea temperature is 17 °C (63 °F). The highest sea temperature is 27 °C (81 °F) in the middle-3rd week of August. In late August and early September the temperature drops to 26 °C (79 °F), and in the second half of September it drops to 25 °C (77 °F). Around mid-October it drops to 24 °C (75 °F), and during the last week of October it drops to 23 °C (73 °F). By early November the temperature drops to 22 °C (72 °F) (data of 2010).^[7][17]

Precipitation

Water supply poses a problem on Malta, as the summer is both rainless and the time of greatest water use, and the winter rainfall often falls as heavy showers running off to the sea rather than soaking into the ground. Malta depends on underground reserves of fresh water, drawn through a system of water tunnels called the Ta' Kandja galleries, which average about 97 m below surface and extend like the spokes of a wheel. In the galleries in Malta's porous limestone, fresh water lies in a lens upon brine. More than half the potable water of Malta is produced by desalination, which creates further issues of fossil fuel use and pollution.^[20]

Malta has an average of 90 precipitation days a year, and experiences from a few to a dozen rainy days per month (≥ 1 mm), ranging from 0.5 of a day in July to around 15 in December. The average annual precipitation is around 600 mm, ranging from ~0.3 mm in July to ~110 mm in December.^[1]

Humidity

The annual average relative humidity is 73%, ranging from 65% in July (morning: 78% evening: 53%) to 78% in December (morning: 83% evening: 73%).^[8]

Records

Despite the relative stasis of the Maltese climate, historical records present some variations. In the capital city of Valletta, meteorological officials of the time recorded a temperature of 1.2 °C (34.2 °F) on 19 February 1895, which remains a record for the city.^[22] Regarding the island as a whole, a temperature of −1.7 °C (28.9 °F) was recorded on 1 February 1962, at Ta' Qali airfield, in the centre of the island, which was pelted first by frozen precipitation (hail), and later in the day covered by snowfall that lasted through the night, though this temperature is not recognised by the Malta Met Office as it was not an official recording station and didn't use worldwide meteorological standard instruments.^[22] Snow, which is virtually unheard of, is officially on the record books of the past 200 years as having occurred in January 1858 (widespread snowfall), March 1877 (light snow without accumulation), February 1895 (snow squalls without accumulation), January 1905 (flurries without accumulation), March 1949 (snow recorded in the interior of the island), and 31 January 1962,^[22] On 31 December 2014 "snow" was reported at various locations.^[23] however the Malta Met Office has now confirmed these were showers of soft hail or graupel sometimes also called snow pellets, but they are actually small lumps of ice. That Winter went on to be one of the coldest and stormiest ever experienced in the Maltese Islands.^[24][25] It is thought that most historical reports of snow are likely to have also been graupel.

The lowest temperature ever recorded at Luqa International Airport was in January 1981, with 1.4 °C (34.5 °F), and the highest temperature was 43.8 °C (110.8 °F)^[26] recorded in August 1999.

Among all countries in the world, Malta recorded the 5th highest temperature: 1.4 °C (34.5 °F) (after tropical Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Bangladesh and Philippines) among lowest temperatures ever recorded

Climate data

References