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2021 saw Malta’s warmest January in 98 years
Photo: farm5.staticflickr.com
The highest air temperature during the first month of this year was recorded just nine days into January, when the mercury struck 25.8°C. This surpassed the previous record high for January by a whopping 3°C. This means that the maximum air temperature of 25.8 broke the record and became the new highest temperature for January on the Maltese Islands since 1923!
On a global scale too, it was the sixth warmest January, on par with 2018, at 0.24°C above the 1991-2020 average. It was also 0.43°C above the average obtained between 1981 and 2010.
The record breaking day over here in Malta, was followed by an overcast Sunday, marked by a complete absence of sunshine. That being said, seeing as we went over the sunshine quota for January by almost 14 hours, 176.3 hours of sunshine during January seems to have made up for the bleakness. Apart from being much drier than the climate norm, January was also warmer than expected at this time of year. Averaging at 14.1°C, the air temperature surpassed the norm by 1.4°C. The average sea surface temperature, also exceeded the norm of 15.8°C by no less than 1.3°C.
