Malta shivers in cold January temperatures
January 2012 was colder and slightly drier than average with the mean monthly temperature at Balzan of 12.5°C being 0.7°C below average. The cold temperatures were mainly noticeable during the day with the mean maximum monthly temperature of 14.6°C being 1.4°C below average.
Rainfall was only slightly below average with 88.3mm compared with the average of 94.5mm. There were 17 days of rain and 5 thunderstorm days. Hail was reported on the 6th and on the 11th.
The highest temperature was only 17.7°C on the 2nd, while the lowest was 5.4°C on the 27th and a corresponding grass minimum temperature of -2.0°C. This was the coldest ever January grass minimum temperature. The highest ever temperature in January was of 22.2°C in 1988, while the coldest ever was or 3.9°C on 7th January 2002.
The average wind speed in January at Zebbug Malta was 12.6 km/h and the most frequent direction was NNW. The highest wind gust at Zebbug (Malta) was 77.7km/h at around 9am on the 6th. A much higher gust of 104.5km/h was measured at around the same time at Mellieha.