News | Sunday, 26 July 2009

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Hottest July day since 1998

Yesterday was the warmest July day at Balzan in 11 years when the maximum temperature had soared to 39.9°C on the 2nd July 1998. Yesterday’s maximum temperature at Balzan was of 39.2°C. However, other places in Malta had even higher maximum temperatures today, such as Zejtun with 41°C.
The Civil Protection Department were called to put out some 40 grass fires all over the country throughout the day, mainly caused by the heat.
Meteomalta.com said the high temperature was due to an advancing high pressure system moving in from Africa carrying very high temperatures from the African continent. The high pressure causes the air in the atmosphere to sink, compressing it and raising the temperature even higher.
Another factor in this combination of high temperatures is that the wind remained strong enough from the northwest to prevent the sea breeze from forming. This meant that temperatures could not cool down and also meant that the southeastern part of Malta ended up very hot since the air had to pass over most of Malta and got heated on the way.
Temperatures are expected to cool down to more normal temperatures as from Monday as the high pressure retreats a bit to the west.

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