Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/931337
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 24 JANUARY 2018 News 4 MARIA PACE A look back at 2017 shows that whilst November was the dullest month, July was the brightest one, treating is- landers to just over 365 hours of summer sunshine. The highest temperature in 2017 was 38.7°C in July, whilst the lowest of 4.2°C was recorded in January. Rainfall for 2017 only amounted to 432mm. Sunny and practically cloud- less July days registered some very hot air temperatures, with the mercury shooting up to the year's highest maxi- mum of 38.7°C on 13 July. Av- eraging at 56%, July's humid- ity levels were the lowest for 2017; a year which has gone down on record as the least humid since 1951. What started out to be a dull December, with no sun- shine recorded on the first day, became sunnier as the month progressed, with the sixth, seventh and twelfth days each enjoying a maxi- mum of 9.2 hours of sun- shine. In the end, the month outshone the climate norm of 156.3 hours of sunshine by a full 36.9 hours, bringing the year to a brighter-than-ex- pected close. A windswept January, on the other hand, breezed in with a cold snap, which saw the tem- perature dip to the year's low- est at 4.2°C on three separate occasions. Although 2017 started on this rather chilly note, on the whole, the year was slightly warmer than the climate norm, maintaining a mean air temperature of 19.2°C. The average sea tem- perature ranged between Au- gust's 27.3°C and February's 15.3°C. Meteorological records show that the year had 24 thundery days - six of which were observed in January - and two hail occurrences, with the first one being re- ported in January and the second one being reported on December 18. On the morrow, the air temperature dropped to the month 's low- est minimum of 6°C; a full 5°C lower than the 30-year average on record for this time of year. Also lower than the climate norm for December was the month's total rainfall, which amounted to a paltry 44.8mm when compared with the expected 104.8mm. 2017's wettest month was Octo- ber, contributing over 23% of the year's total rainfall of 432mm. Although not as dry as the year preceding it, 2017 was the 23rd driest year the Maltese islands have experi- enced in the past 94 years. OUT WITH THE MALTATODAY ON SUNDAY 28 JANUARY A cool start and bright end to 2017 A look back at 2017's weather shows that it was the 23rd driest year the Maltese islands have experienced in the past 94 years 2017 HIGHLIGHTS PARAMETER MONTH MEASUREMENT BRIGHTEST JULY 365.6 sunshine hours DULLEST NOVEMBER 160.0 sunshine hours WINDIEST JANUARY Mean wind speed: 10.2 knots CALMEST AUGUST Mean wind speed: 6 knots WETTEST OCTOBER 102.4mm DRIEST JULY 0.01mm MOST HUMID FEBRUARY 81% LEAST HUMID JULY 56% CLOUDIEST JANUARY Average cloud cover: 4.7 oktas LEAST CLOUDY JULY / AUGUST Average cloud cover: 0.8 oktas Although 2017 started on a rather chilly note, the year was slightly warmer than the climate norm A windswept January breezed in with a cold snap in 2017, as temperatures dipped to the year's lowest