NADUR
SWELTERS IN HEAT WAVE
- Joe Meilak reports for june29th.com -
An early summer heat wave has
hit the Maltese Islands these past few days, with temperatures
climbing steadily to reach Tuesday’s peak of 36.8 degrees C (98
degrees F) at Nadur. However, in Malta, the maximum temperature has
reached 40 degrees (104 degrees F) in various parts, especially in
the centre of the Island, which are unaffected by the cooling effect
of any sea breezes.
These torrid temperatures are
being caused by a vast high pressure system centred over the Azores
Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, which has extended a ridge to cover
almost the entire Mediterranean Sea. In a high pressure, or
anticyclone, the air circulates in a clockwise direction, and
descends, creating very hot conditions on the land’s surface. This
may be likened to a screw being tightened. When air descends, it is
compressed and it heats up.
Temperatures over most of Italy
have been in the upper 30s for the past two weeks, but the Maltese
Islands had escaped the brunt of the heat wave. Of some consolation
to us is the fact that many parts of Tunisia and Libya have recorded
temperatures of between 44 degrees C (111 degrees F and 47 degrees C
(117 degrees F) during the past few days.
The current heat wave is normal
for this time of the year, albeit it is somewhat rare to have 40
degrees C temperatures in late June and early July. The highest
temperature ever recorded in the Maltese Islands climbed to 44
degrees C in August 1999.
After an extremely cold winter
when many cold temperature records have been broken, one would
expect Mother Nature to even the score – and that is exactly what
seems to be happening. The current heat wave is expected to persist
until Wednesday with temperatures again in the upper 30s and perhaps
even 40 degrees C. From Thursday onwards, we are expecting a
‘cooling’ trend, with forecast maximum temperatures of about 32
degrees C for the coming weekend. Atmospheric instability is likely
to increase over the Central Mediterranean, and by Friday afternoon
we could be in for another unseasonable isolated thunderstorm.
Long-term forecasts are also predicting showers over our Islands
next week, especially towards the weekend of the 12-13th July.
For the rest of the summer, we should brace ourselves for intermittent heat waves, especially during the first two weeks of August, which is traditionally the hottest period of the year in the Maltese Islands. Summers have been getting progressively hotter in the past 20 years, and a peak was reached in 1999. Since then, things have cooled a bit, somewhat. One good piece of advice: invest in an air conditioner!
To
view the latest weather conditions and forecasts over Nadur and the
Maltese Islands please visit gozoweather.com.
photo: san blas bay (joe zammit for june29th.com)
