July sees whopping 370 hours of sunshine

A sun-drenched July and higher sea temperatures gave locals and tourists plenty of time to soak up the sun and enjoy the beaches, according to the latest Malta International Airport data.

The Met office added that, with a marginally lower cloud cover - 0.8 oktas - and 370.8 hours of sunshine recorded, last month was brighter than expected.

July started off with a combination of 0.4mm of rainfall and over 11 hours of sunshine measured on its first day.

Furthermore, twenty-one days in July registered air temperatures that exceeded the climate norm of 31.6°C, with a peak of 34.6°C reached on the first weekend.

However, according to data, this came nowhere near breaking the highest temperature on record for July, which was experienced in 1988 when the mercury shot up to 42.7°C. 

To the delight of swimmers who normally delay taking the plunge, the mean sea temperature was 0.2°C higher than expected for this time of the year, with the sea being particularly warm on Saturday July 15th when the temperature spiked at 27.2°C.

Unfortunately, the warm seas could not be fully enjoyed as Force 8 (34 knots) gusts persisted throughout the weekend, at one point reaching a maximum speed of 39 knots.

According to the data, generally speaking, July was windier than usual, with the mean wind speed measuring 0.4 knots more than the climate norm of 6.8 knots.