Air Temperature

Highest Maximum 40.8°C 20th June 2021
Lowest Maximum 10.2°C 15th February 2021
Highest Minimum 27.7°C 5th August 2021
Lowest Minimum 5.9°C 15th February 2021

 

Mean Maximum 23.0°C
Mean Minimum 16.7°C
Mean 19.8°C

 

Relative Humidity

Lowest Relative Humidity 18% 28th June 2021

 

Mean Relative Humidity 74.1%

 

Atmospheric Pressure

Highest Atmospheric Pressure 1035.2hPa 23rd February 2021
Lowest Atmospheric Pressure 998.3hPa 21st March 2021

 

Mean Atmospheric Pressure 1018.6hPa

  

Wind

Highest Gust 78.9 km/h (Force 9) 7th February 2021

 

Mean Wind Speed 17.3 km/h
Most Frequent Wind Direction Northwest

 

Precipitation

Total Rainfall During 2021 558.0 mm

 

Highest 24 Hour Total 69.5 mm 3rd October 2021

 

Rain Days 80 days
Thunderstorm Days 27 days
Hail Days 13 days

 

Rainfall Events

01/01/2021 0.6 mm P.M. Shower
02/01/2021 8.5 mm Isolated Thunderstorm
03/01/2021 4.3 mm P.M. Rain/Hail Showers; Distant Thunder
04/01/2021 3.2 mm A.M. Rain/Hail Showers; Distant Thunder
08/01/2021 0.3 mm Isolated Light Rain
12/01/2021 2.3 mm Rain/Hail Showers
13/01/2021 0.5 mm Light Rain
14/01/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
15/01/2021 1.5 mm Isolated Shower
16/01/2021 1.7 mm Isolated Rain/Hail Shower
17/01/2021 1.6 mm Isolated Shower (Hailstorm in Malta)
18/01/2021 2.1 mm Shower
23/01/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
24/01/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
26/01/2021 5.9 mm Showers
27/01/2021 0.5 mm Light Rain
28/01/2021 7.2 mm Showers
31/01/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
02/02/2021 1.8 mm Isolated Shower
13/02/2021 1.1 mm Light Rain
14/02/2021 0.5 mm Light Rain
08/03/2021 1.3 mm Light Rain
09/03/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
10/03/2021 0.9 mm Light Rain
16/03/2021 3.7 mm Isolated Showers; Thundery Shower with Hail
18/03/2021 3.6 mm Isolated Showers
20/03/2021 0.5 mm Light Rain (with heavy sand deposits)
21/03/2021 4.6 mm Showers
22/03/2021 0.8 mm Light Rain
23/03/2021 5.6 mm Showers; Thundery Shower with Hail
30/03/2021 0.3 mm Dew
05/04/2021 1.4 mm Isolated Shower
04/09/2021 3.6 mm Thunderstorm
06/09/2021 1.5 mm Isolated Thunderstorm
09/09/2021 2.6 mm Isolated Shower; Distant Thunder
10/09/2021 1.5 mm Isolated Shower; Distant Thunder
11/09/2021 0.4 mm Isolated Shower
02/10/2021 32.1 mm Thunderstorm; Hail
03/10/2021 69.5 mm Thunderstorm; Hail
05/10/2021 2.4 mm P.M. Isolated Thunderstorm
06/10/2021 3.0 mm A.M. Isolated Thunderstorm
07/10/2021 1.2 mm Isolated Showers
08/10/2021 2.1 mm Isolated Showers
09/10/2021 0.3 mm Isolated Showers
10/10/2021 3.7 mm Isolated Showers; Distant Thunder
12/10/2021 0.4 mm Isolated Showers
14/10/2021 34.5 mm Steady Rain; Thunder
15/10/2021 0.5 mm Isolated Showers
16/10/2021 0.2 mm Light Rain
18/10/2021 1.0 mm Isolated Showers; Distant Thunder
25/10/2021 24.1 mm P.M. Steady Rain; Thunder
26/10/2021 39.7 mm A.M. Steady Rain; Thunder; P.M. Showers
27/10/2021 11.9 mm Showers
28/10/2021 2.8 mm Isolated Showers
29/10/2021 4.6 mm Light Rain
30/10/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
31/10/2021 6.7 mm Light Rain; P.M. Steady Rain
01/11/2021 19.9 mm Thunderstorm
08/11/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
09/11/2021 2.8 mm Showers
11/11/2021 48.8 mm Heavy Thunderstorm; Hail
15/11/2021 2.5 mm Isolated Shower
22/11/2021 2.8 mm Showers; Distant Thunder
25/11/2021 61.3 mm Heavy Thunderstorm; Hail
27/11/2021 3.3 mm Showers; Distant Thunder
28/11/2021 30.7 mm Steady Rain; Thunder
29/11/2021 4.1 mm Showers
30/11/2021 1.0 mm Isolated Shower
02/12/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
03/12/2021 29.9 mm Steady Rain; Distant Thunder
04/12/2021 2.4 mm Showers
05/12/2021 1.5 mm Isolated Showers
06/12/2021 4.3 mm Showers; Hail
09/12/2021 3.1 mm Isolated Showers; Hail
10/12/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
11/12/2021 16.4 mm Intermittent Light Rain; Hail
12/12/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain
16/12/2021 2.8 mm Isolated Showers
23/12/2021 0.5 mm Light Rain
28/12/2021 0.3 mm Light Rain

  

2021 Compared to the Climate Means

  Climate Mean 2021 Anomaly
Mean Maximum Temperature 20.8°C 23.0°C +2.2°C
Mean Minimum Temperature 15.6°C 16.7°C +1.1°C
Mean Temperature 18.2°C 19.8°C +1.6°C
Mean Relative Humidity 76% 74.1% -1.9%
Mean Atmospheric Pressure 1016.5hPa 1018.6hPa +2.1hPa
Mean Wind Speed 16.4 km/h 17.3 km/h +0.9 km/h
Most Frequent Wind Direction West Northwest Northwest +22.5°
Total Rainfall 585.6 mm 558.0 mm -27.6 mm
Total Rain Days 84 days 80 days -4 days
Total Thunderstorm Days 26 days 27 days +1 day
Total Hail Days 8 days 13 days +5 days

 

Month-by-Month Summary for 2021

January 2021 – Warmer and Drier (REGISTERS WARMEST EVER JANUARY DAY)

February 2021 – Warmer and Drier (AMONG THE DRIEST ON RECORD)

March 2021 – Cooler and Drier

April 2021 – Cooler and Drier

May 2021 – Warmer and Drier

June 2021 – Warmer and Drier (THIRD HOTTEST ON RECORD)

July 2021 – Warmer with Average Rainfall

August 2021 – Warmer and Drier

September 2021 – Warmer and Drier

October 2021 – Cooler and Wetter (AMONG THE WETTEST ON RECORD)

November 2021 – Warmer and Wetter

December 2021 – Cooler and Drier

 

2021: A Year of Meteorological Extremes

2021 was an eventful year. It was a year of extremes.

2021 was warmer than normal. With a mean temperature of 19.8˚C, the annual average was exceeded by 1.6˚C. The greatest difference from the climate mean was recorded in maximum temperatures. The months of March, April, October and December were the only ones with temperatures below the norm. A number of temperature-related records were broken over the course of last year. Saturday 9th January, on the second weekend of 2021, broke Malta’s national record for the warmest temperature ever measured in January. A very warm air mass advecting across the central Mediterranean from the Sahara Desert caused the temperature at our weather station in Għarb to shoot up to 23.6°C. An even warmer value of 25.8°C was measured at the airport in Luqa. That same day also broke the record for the warmest January night ever. The minimum air temperature that day dipped to only 17.1°C. The corresponding value at the airport in Luqa was of 19.4°C. More records were to fall in June. With a monthly average temperature of 25.8°C, June 2021 was a solid 2.0°C hotter than the climate norm. It was also the third hottest June on record in the Maltese Islands. Only those of 2019 and 2003 were hotter. A heat wave that characterized the meteorological scene in June broke records as well. Lasting from 20th June through to 30th June (both days included), it ended up being the longest heatwave experienced locally. The previous record of 10 days was set in August 2017. The heat wave’s final day, 30th June, was to break the record for the hottest June day ever. The temperature at our weather station in Għarb soared to 40.8°C on that day. An even higher value of 41.5°C was recorded at Malta International Airport. This heatwave occurred as a result of a heat dome. A heat dome is a phenomenon in which high-pressure atmospheric conditions trap air coming in from the Sahara Desert. The trapped air heats up at an alarming rate as it is compressed, like what happens under the lid on a saucepan. In normal conditions, winds are able to move a heat dome around, but because this particular heat dome stretched high into the atmosphere, it wasn’t easy to move about. This led to the persistent heatwave. The heat dome caused air pollution, desert sand and moisture to become stagnant, leading to a choked up atmosphere.

The coldest night of 2021 came in mid-February. The thermometer dipped to a chilly 5.9˚C on 15th February. This was during one of two brief cold snaps experienced in 2021.

2021 was a an average year in terms of rainfall when viewed overall. A total of 558 mm was measured. That is only marginally below the climate average. More records were to be broken where rainfall is concerned. Rainfall was below average in a staggering ten months. Only 77.4 mm (or just under 14%) of the total rainfall in 2021 was measured over the course of the first nine months. Rain particularly scarce in February 2021. In fact, it was among the driest ever Februaries. Some places around the Maltese Islands did not see a drop of rain from 5th April through to 4th September 2021. No rain was registered in a number of localities for a total of 151 consecutive days. The months of October and November accounted for three quarters (or 428.1 mm) of the total rainfall measured throughout the entire year. October 2021, by far last year’s wettest month, became the third wettest October since record keeping began a century earlier. From early October 2021 throughout to mid-December 2021, the Maltese Islands experienced frequent rainy episodes (43 days of rain), with at least eight of these being events of very heavy rainfall. A handful of storms dumped in excess of 100 mm of rain over a number of localities. The ones which struck in the early hours of 3rd October, 11th November and 25th November were particularly dangerous. Cars were carried away by flash floods, and people had to be rescued from the flooding. The autumn of 2021 was the wettest in over 20 years. The very warm sea that surrounded the Maltese Islands after the very warm summer played an important part in creating an excessively wet autumn. As summer transitioned into autumn, cooler air from over Europe started infiltrating the central Mediterranean. The sharp difference between local and incoming air greatly destabilized the atmosphere above the Maltese Islands, leading to the formation of successive vigorous bad weather systems. In addition to this, a greater amount of moisture was available to be advected into these systems as a result of the very warm sea, leading to larger amounts of rainfall.

Averaging at 17.3 km/h, the wind was marginally stronger than in a typical year. The highest gust last year was registered at 78.9km/h from the Northwest, during a gale on 7th February.

Overall, the average atmospheric pressure was slightly higher than the norm. The first half of the year was dotted by a series of blocking anticyclones. These are areas of high pressure that remain stationary over an area for several weeks. Bringing long days of uninterrupted bright sunshine, these anticyclones were responsible for the dry weather experienced at the start of 2021. The highest value of atmospheric pressure was recorded on the 23rd of February. It reached 1035.2hPa. The lowest value of atmospheric pressure registered, on the other hand, was on 21st March. It dropped to 998.3hPa, as an intense low pressure system traversed the central Mediterranean.