Maltese Tradition Predicts The Weather For The Rest Of 2018
Original Photo by davidepat
The historic long-term weather forecast tradition of irwieġel is still widely used to this day in Malta. Normally used by farmers to plan the year ahead, there are two main methods of ‘keeping the irwieġel’. By keeping the record of the weather of the 12 days before (or after) Christmas, it’s believed that one can shed a light on the following 12 months. However, some Maltese people choose to look at the first 12 days of January as an indication of things to come, and applying that to this year paints a rather believable picture of 2018’s weather.
The first three days of the year have so far been cloudy, windy, cold and with some bouts of rain. So far, so good; January, February and March are, after all, three of the coldest and windiest months of the year. January 2nd was particularly windy, reaching gale force winds (wind-induced-shipwrecks come February, anyone?).
Today will still be very windy at times, but sees the temperature start to slowly climb. As soon as that wind dies down later on, it might be perfect for a picnic… much like April, after all.
Interestingly enough, this weekend sees a sudden shift towards calmer winds and slightly higher temperatures reaching highs of 20°C. The main highlight of Saturday, Sunday and Monday (which would correspond to June, July and August) is the sunny weather. By Tuesday (or September), the temperature will go down a degree or two, also bringing in more clouds. By Wednesday (October), the temperature will be going back down to 16°C, and the wind will increase all the way up to Force 6 again.
As for November and December, we’re going to have to wait until late next week to see what the rest of January – and potentially 2018 – has in store for us.
Photo by ssksi2408
So what does this all mean?
Well, if we’re talking short-term, it means we’re looking at a sunny and relatively warm weekend over Malta. Temperatures will go up to highs of 19 and 20°C, and will go down to average lows of 14°C. Saturday night will be a bit cooler at 12°C, and strong winds of Forces 4, 5 and even 6 will make their way to the islands on Friday morning and Sunday afternoon in particular.
If we’re talking long-term and are taking the irwieġel as a guide (or at least, the derivation that looks at the first 12 days of January), then 2018 doesn’t seem to have any big weather surprises in store for Malta. One interesting feature, however, is the constant winds which rarely go below Force 4. If this ancient forecasting tradition is to be believed, then we might be looking at a very windy 2018… even in the middle of summer.
If you want to keep up to the date with what last year’s Irwieġel (particularly the 12 days before Christmas 2017) had to say about 2018’s weather, follow the Irwieġel Facebook page. Let’s see how many months we can accurately predict!
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