The State of the Climate 2022 (Reference year 2020)
Date Published: 3rd June 2022
Summary:
The State of the Climate publication presents an analysis of Malta’s climatic changes as recorded from 1952 to 2020.
The weather phenomena described comprise sunshine, cloud cover, air temperature, sea temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind and thunderstorms.
This publication follows up from an earlier one dating back to October 2011. The 2011 publication presented an analysis of weather-related data for the period 1951-2010.
Data analysis points towards a climate that is becoming increasingly warmer and drier and more prone to weather extremes.
Salient Points of Publication:
From 1952 to 2020 …
• Mean maximum air temperature increased by 1.54 °C.
• Mean minimum air temperature increased by 1.37 °C.
• Mean highest maximum air temperature increased by 1.20 °C.
• Mean lowest minimum air temperature increased by 1.67 °C.
• Total rainfall decreased by 71.27 mm.
• Mean rainfall recorded in 24 hours (rainfall intensity) decreased by 1.90 mm.
• Mean atmospheric pressure increased by 0.34 hPa.
• Total number of days with thunderstorms increased by 8.65 days.
From 1961 to 2020 …
• Mean duration of bright sunshine per day increased by 0.08 hours.
• Mean cloud cover per day decreased by 0.38 oktas.
• Mean wind speed decreased by 0.82 knots.
• The North-west was the predominant wind direction during 57.22% of all months.
• Mean relative humidity decreased by 4.72 percentage points.
From 1978 to 2020 …
• Mean sea temperature increased by 1.89 °C.
• Highest mean sea temperature increased by 2.20 °C.
