“While the Maltese Islands remain synonymous with warm, bright and sunny weather, the country has seen its fair share of rather extreme weather in recent years,” the Met Office says.

Although bouts of rain could come to the archipelago in the summer peak months of June and August, the office says that the so-called shoulder months — those during the spring and autumn when the temperatures can fluctuate drastically — will bring drier and more pleasant weather. A white winter stays highly unlikely for this year too due to the surrounding warm sea.

Weather forecasting has come a long way since the first meteorological office in Malta opened its doors, evolving from drawings on maps and extensive calculations to extraordinarily high-resolution digital models, the Meteorological Office says. “Initially, the meteorological office was only able to provide three-day forecasts. Advances in technology, investments in new equipment and further training then permitted forecasters to provide up to seven-day forecasts,” the press statement says.

The office gathers detailed weather data from various localities around the Maltese Islands, allowing a meteorological systems administrator to draw up monthly weather reports, accessible to the public through Malta International Airport’s website.

Malta’s sole weather service provider Met Office is responsible for issuing weather warnings. The colours allocated to weather warnings are yellow, amber and red, with the severity of expected weather increasing with the saturation of the colour warning.

Last year’s storms lingered on to the beginning of 2019. Following what many tagged as a historic storm of the recent years in Malta, the Maltese government turned to the European Commission at the beginning of 2019 to ask for funding to deal with the damages the archipelago suffered. Rough waters forced Virtu Ferries to cancel routes and launch extra services to make up for the outage. Heritage Malta was also forced to temporarily close down some of its sites to deal with damages caused by the heavy winds and rainfall.

The post Malta suffers record number of storms in 2018 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The prehistoric temples of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, including the protective shelters, were unharmed; however, the Visitor Centre suffered some external damage, leading to the temporary closure of the site.

Fort St Elmo stood strong in heavy winds not suffering “any particular loss”, however, the site was temporarily closed as a safety precaution for being heavily exposed to northeastern winds, Heritage Malta said.

Considerable damage was caused in the Egmont Hall in Fort St Angelo include the roof and external information panels, HM added.

Further damages included the collapse of part of the boundary wall of the prehistoric site of Tas-Silġ in Marsaxlokk and some structural damage in one of the pavilions at St Paul’s Catacombs. Heritage Malta’s sites also saw some of its trees uprooted by the winds.

By the date of publication, HM reported having opened all the venues to the general public, including sites and museums.

The post Severe storm forces HM sites to close temporarily first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“To this effect, all government departments have officially commenced with studies in order to cost the extent of all damages,” the government’s Department of Information said in a press statement.

Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds and Social Dialogue Aaron Farrugia contacted European Commissioners Corina Cretu and Christos Stylianides to inform them that such studies had commenced and that Malta will be formally triggering the process of tapping into the fund.

Malta was subject to a trembling storm over the weekend, especially Saturday night and early Sunday morning. The storm uprooted trees, tore down utility cables, left basements flooded and damaged vehicles and kiosks near the shoreline, leaving substantial damage in buildings as well.

Gale-force and severe Gale-force winds battered all over the island, in places exceeding 100 km/h in strength, according to weather and news reports.

Due to the highly unfavourable weather conditions, Virtu Ferries connecting Malta to Sicily cancelled routes for 24 and 25 February, and added extra services as of 26 February.

The post Post-storm Malta turns to EC for financial support first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Expecting the storm to clear up, as of 26 February, Tuesday the service provider plans to deliver scheduled routes in a duly manner, as well as to add further voyages as follows:

• VF800 departing from Malta at05.00 (am) and arriving at Pozzallo at 06.45 (am) (scheduled) – On arrival, Pozzallo Port coach transfers will be organised to Catania Port (extra)
• 06.45 am coach transfers will be organised from Catania Port to Pozzallo Port (extra) – VF131 departing from Pozzallo at 09.15 (am) arriving at Malta at 11.00 (am) (extra)
• VF130 departing from Malta 17.00 arriving at Pozzallo at 18.45 (extra) – On arrival, Pozzallo Port coach transfers will be organised to Catania Port (extra)
• 19.00 coach transfers will be organised from Catania Port to Pozzallo Port (extra) – VF801 departing from Pozzallo at 21.30 arriving at Malta at 23.15 (scheduled)

Virtu Holdings is a conglomerate of ship owning companies which, primarily focuses on owning, managing and operating high-speed passenger and car ferries. Virtu Ferries connects Malta to Sicily with regular ferry services.

The post Virtu Ferry cancels Feb 24-25 routes first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.