Malta Was Hit with A Severe Hail Storm Last Weekend

Parts of Malta were hit by a severe hailstorm on Saturday afternoon, with hailstones measuring up to 2 centimetres in diameter, local weather experts confirmed. Areas such as Ħal Qormi and Birkirkara were particularly affected.

According to European criteria, a storm is classified as severe when hail reaches a minimum diameter of 2 centimetres (approximately 0.8 inches). This threshold is used by the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD) and the European Severe Storms Laboratory (EUMETSAT/ESSL) to categorise convective storm events.

It-temp Madwarna stated, “Although we are in the height of summer 🌞, the heavy hail that fell last Saturday indicates how unstable the atmosphere was. Intense convective updrafts of warm, moist air were forcefully pushed to very high levels in the atmosphere, where temperatures were below 0°C—kilometres above the ground! This was visible in the towering cloud formations just before the storm broke.”

It-Temp Madwarna also shared a timelapse video of the storm over Santa Marija, filmed by Dr. Ryan Vella.

#MaltaDaily