An overcast sky consisting of large, rounded merged masses of stratocumulus stratiformis opacus clouds (broken) at height of 1200 metres and some cumulus mediocris clouds at height of 670 metres as reported by the Luqa METAR reading, eighth thumbnail. At times, the lower cumulus cloud level seemed to have been touching the background hills of Malta’s west side. Blustery light to moderate rain was associated with the cloud in main photo as shown by the rain radar video of the seventh thumbnail. The visible satellite image of the fifth thumbnail taken at 1600 CET, shows that exactly this photographed overcast sky was actually part of a circular cloud band rotating anticlockwise around the Mediterranean cyclone centred over the shores of Libya. The actual cloud structure

inside the Mediterranean cyclone was a perfect fit with the surface pressure chart on the sixth thumbnail in which the cloud band over the Maltese Islands was part of the wrapped frontal system around the low whilst the cloud centre depicted the very centre of the low pressure system. The second thumbnail cloud is potentially a cumulus radiatus tuba or simply a scud cloud under cumulus whilst the third thumbnail shows cumulus mediocris radiatus. In fact, both cloud photos taken much earlier in the day formed part of the cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds that were rotating around the very centre of the 1003 hPa low pressure as depicted by another satellite image on the third thumbnail taken in the morning. There was nothing to home about in the weather sounding of the fourth thumbnail except for a steadily unstable airmass from bottom to the top of the atmosphere and with lots of wind (speed) shear as the moderate NE wind at the surface increased considerably higher up potentially producing the probable tuba-like feature from cumulus clouds on the first thumbnail.