• At 23.4°C, average air temperature was 0.5°C lower than the climate norm
• 19.7 hours of sunshine more than the climate norm measured
• Trace amount of precipitation measured

Long hours of sunshine and air temperatures that were cooler than the norm for June kicked off the meteorological summer on the Maltese islands.

Throughout June, the air temperature ranged between a minimum of 16.3°C recorded on the second day of the month and a maximum of 32.8°C reached on the very last day. Last month’s maximum temperature was only 0.5°C higher than the maximum temperature for May 2020.

At 23.4°C, the average air temperature for the month of June was 0.5°C lower than the climate norm. On the other hand, the average sea surface temperature surpassed the norm of 21.5°C by 0.8°C.

While last June was nowhere near as hot as the record-breaking June 2019, it clocked up nearly as many sunshine hours. Throughout the month, a mean cloud cover of 1.5 oktas was maintained and the sun shone for 347.7 hours, treating islanders to almost 20 hours of sunshine more than expected at this time of year.

June days may have been drenched in an average of 11.6 hours of summer sunshine, but the trace amount of precipitation measured during the month fell short of the 4.0 mm of rainfall expected at this time of year.

During the last 70 years, four Junes were completely dry, producing no precipitation whatsoever. On the contrary, the wettest June on recorded had drenched the islands in 76.2 mm of rainfall back in 2007.

June was a windswept month, during which a mean wind speed of 9.4 knots, rather than the usual 7.6 knots, was maintained. The 5th of June was the windiest day of the month, on which a maximum gust of 40 knots blowing from a west by north-west direction was measured.