Malta could be on its way to its longest-lasting heatwave

Malta’s ongoing heatwave is on the road to break a new record as the island’s longest lasting heatwave.

Amateur forecasters at malteseislandsweather.com said they expect maximum temperatures to continue rising to 35°C and over until at least 4 July.

Over the past week or so, the Maltese islands sweltered in a record-breaking heatwave with a long-standing June temperature shattered twice. 25 June registered the hottest ever June day in the archipelago’s meteorological history when the mercury soared to a dangerous 41.3°C at Malta International Airport.

A strong northwesterly wind could bring relief from the intense heat on 5 July. This would lower temperature to the seasonal 30°C-31°C daytime highs and 22°C-23°C night-time lows.

The past two weeks have been very warm across parts of Europe, with locally extremely hot temperatures.

“The sea temperature anomaly chart is actually very concerning,” forecasters at Severe Weather EU said.

“The persistent strong heat and very high temperatures are warming up the seas as well. The Mediterranean sea is already very warm, with a temperature anomaly of 3-5 °C above the long-term average across the central and especially northern parts.”