The Climate

Malta is a tiny archipelago in the center of the much vaster Mediterranean Sea. This sea is a very important factor when one is discussing the climate.

Here we do not have the four season cycle that people have in Northern Europe. Here we have only two seasons: a very hot and dry summer - where you are guaranteed sunshine - and our rainy season which can be likened to the European late spring.

The normal daytime temperature during the rainy season is springlike. The lowest daytime temperature will usually be +12°C and the highest +18°C. The lowest night temperature ever was +2C but normally during the coldest nights the temperature will go low as +6°C. These temperatures are December and January temperatures! It can never get any colder! One has to remember that we are surrounded by a much vaster sea that, at the end of the summer, usually has a temperature of 27°C. This heat is then released very slowly during the rainy season and the result is the balmy mild season that we get. Although there are many sunny days during this season, there can also be wet and windy and sometimes stormy ones too.

Gozo is absolutely lovely at this time. The terraced fields and the hills will be green as this is our crop growing season. The fields are very fertile and an abundance of crops is the norm. The wheat and barley grows during this season and is harvested in May.

We usually will have a short windy period when one season is ending an another one about to begin. These windy seasons occur in late September begginning of October and from mid-April to the end of May. Then the hot season starts. The temperature starts climbing up to the low twenties in May, high twenties and lower thirties in June (though it can rise much higher - the record is 43°C!). The hotest month is July where the temperature frequently goes into the low forties. The temperature starts going lower again in August (mid-thirties) and lower still in September (lower thirties -high twenties) and October (mid to lower twenties). We will expect the first rain of the rainy season after mid-September. During this season Gozo's grass starts withering up and the countryside will be desert like - just drab brown of the fields.

When is the correct time for you to visit? That would depend very much on what you want to do. 

If you want to go hiking then don't come during July and August - though walking at night after sundown will be pleasant at this time of the year. The best time to enjoy this activity will be during the rainy season with the relatively cool temperatures. Many tourists come for this reason from March to June.

Diving can be enjoyed at any time of the year. Nowhere else are you guaranteed up to 40m of clear uncontaninated water. Wrecks and natural underwater features abound.

English teaching schools are most active during the summer months but lessons can also be had during the off season.