Warmest April in last 90 years registered

The days' mean maximum temperature was 21.6°C, which is warmer than the norm while the nights' mean minimum temperature was 13.7°C - also warmer than the norm.

The warmest day last month was on the 13th, when the thermometer at the Malta Airport MetOffice in Luqa reached 25.2°C. The warmest April day ever recorded in Malta was on the 9^th April 1985 when temperature reached 30.7°C.

The lowest minimum temperature was 10.5°C, and this was recorded on the night between 6^th and 7^th April. The coolest April night ever recorded in Malta was that on the 10^th April 1956 with 4.4°C.

A total of 18.6 mm of rainfall was recorded last month which is 3.9 mm less than the 30-year climatological norm for the month of April. The highest hourly precipitation rate for this month was 14 mm/hr on the 2^nd. The mean relative humidity was 75% which is less than the climatological norm of 77%.

The mean wind speed in April was 9.7 knots. This is lower than the climate norm of 10.3 knots. For 59 % of the time the wind was in the light speed bracket whilst for 7% of the time it was variable. The east by north was the most frequent wind direction with 56 hours. The highest gust last month, recorded on the 25^th, reached 43 knots from the east direction. The strongest gust ever measured at Malta Airport in April was 56 knots (103.7 km/hr) and this was on 15^th April 1969.

The average sea surface temperature last month was 16.2°C. This is warmer than the climate value of 15.9°C for April.

It is interesting to note that there were two days with thunderstorms in April, the 2^ndand 3^rd and 1 day with fog on the 28^th, when the visibility at Malta Airport went down to 250 meters.

Last month was sunnier than normal. We had an average of 8.5 hours of bright sunshine which means a total of 254 hours. The brightest days were the 15^th and 19^th with 12.4 hours, whilst the dullest was the 26^th with no hours of bright sunshine.