Weather or Not

It's only March, but we have reports that it has been warmer in Iowa this week than it has been here in Malta. Warm and cold can be relative terms: We get a kick out of seeing kids waiting for the school bus in parkas and mittens when it's 55 degrees out in the morning!

Coats, hoods, and mittens at 55 degrees. Minnesota kids would be swimming.

Meanwhile, some of our Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa students raised eyebrows by going swimming here on a sunny 64 degree day!

As mentioned, we've had a very warm and dry winter season in Malta -- the warmest and driest on record. Almost every day has been in the low- to mid-60s with sunshine. The biggest weather feature is the wind, which can be very strong coming off the sea sometimes. We've been told that Malta averages only 11 days a year without wind.

Amazingly, Malta has not taken advantage of sun and wind for energy production. One does see some solar panels around, but not many. We have seen no wind turbines at all.

At 60 degrees, elderly Maltese are still in overcoats and gloves.

Weather here is highly unpredictable. This morning's forecast was for "zero percent chance of rain." About 8 a.m. we had a downpour, complete with thunder and lightning!