Climate of Malta - Records

Records

Despite the relative stasis of the Maltese climate, historical records present some variations. In the capital city of Valletta, meteorological officials of the time recorded on February 19, 1895, a temperature of 1.2 °C (34.2 °F), which remains a record for the city. Regarding the island as a whole, a temperature of −1.7 °C (28.9 °F) was recorded on 1 February 1962, at Ta' Qali airfield, in the centre of the island, which was pelted first by frozen precipitation (hail), and later in the day covered by snowfall that lasted through the night. Snow, which is virtually unheard of, is officially on the record books of the past 200 years as having occurred in January 1858 (widespread snowfall), March 1877 (light snow without accumulation), February 1895 (snow squalls without accumulation), January 1905 (flurries without accumulation), March 1949 (snow recorded in the interior of the island), and January 31, 1962. On the last of these dates, January 1962, some parts of the interior of the island were covered by snow for the majority of the day, and the following night, February 1, marks the only event in the history of Malta in which frost was recorded. In August 1999, the meteorological department at Luqa International Airport measured a record high temperature for the nation of 43.8 °C (110.8 °F). Frost had been recorded before in February 1829.