March 2013 How incredible was it for you.

[The PIT]

March 2013 was one hell of an incredible month. For us the coldest March we've recorded since we started recorded in 1955. Our average came in at 1.7C. The coldest Month since December 2010. The previous coldest was 1969 with 2.1C

It Snowed on 18 days of the Month. It snowed every day for the last 13 days and full cover only disappeared on 30th and we still have patchy cover today. Peak depth was 18cm on the 23rd. We had an ice day on the 23rd and recorded overnight -4.7C on the 31st.

24 Air Frosts and 24 Ground Frosts. 14th Consecutive Air Frosts until the end of the Month same with Ground Frosts.

The day time temp never reached double figures and from the 20th til the 30th never reached 5C.

Rainfall was average which is strange for a very cold month.

[Bobby]

..

Edited April 1, 2013 by Bobby

[Bobby]

All I remember about this March is it being cold, windy, cloudy and dry, apart from a good soaking of 65mm of rain that brought huge amounts of snow further North. If we had a good dumping of snow March would have been quite memorable, as it is I just want to forget about it ASAP!

[Optimus Prime]

Unsurprisingly a very cold month. Not a lot of snow but there were plenty of days with snow showers.

Mean Max 6.6c (-4.0c)

Mean Min 0.7c (-3.0c)

Mean 3.6c (-3.5c)

Slightly colder in comparison to December 2009.

[Eugene]

Incredible month that will go down as a classic, just depressing we might have to wait another 50 years for one as cold or colder, could get used to Marches like this very easily.

[summer blizzard]

Unsurprisingly a very cold month. Not a lot of snow but there were plenty of days with snow showers.

Mean Max 6.6c (-4.0c)

Mean Min 0.7c (-3.0c)

Mean 3.6c (-3.5c)

Slightly colder in comparison to December 2009.

You moved from the wilds of Cumbria?

[johnholmes]

Certainly the most memorable March in my 17 years of records. Interesting that Pit quotes 1969 as his coldest March. That fits with the data for RAF Finningley which shows 1969 as its coldest with 3.1C compared to 3.3C in 1962. My figure is 3.3C as well. Snow falling on 14 days and lying on 5, way way above my 17 year average and way above the 1943-1995 average for Finningley with 5 and 1 respectively. Way ahead again with frosts with 9 air and 19 ground frosts compared to Finningley with 8 and 14 and my own 17 year average of 4 and 9.

For number of records broken it must be a very unique month and in recent times to me it compares very well to December 2010.

I have posted elswewhere about comparisons with what weather this set of synoptics might have given 6-10 weeks earlier. It could happen in my view so just what is causing these much colder spells in the autumn/winter/spring period is hard to put a finger on. The overall WMO world temperature figures do show a halt if not even a slight decline in the general upward pattern of the last 150 years. But again variations in this have occurred in the past although nothing quite so marked in the last 10-20 years as their current graph shows.

Interesting times but I do hope that it does not mean an equivalent dip in summer temperatures. The idea of getting 12 months below average depresses me a lot, fine for the winter half although my bank balance would disagree!

Edited April 1, 2013 by johnholmes

[Summer Sun]

Well it was cold and dull other than that not much really we avoided the heavy snow falls in Darlo and rainfall was above average

[Snowman.]

Had that channel low brought some massive drifts here with 8-10cm widely drifts going up to a about a 1ft.

The fact it was march made it all that better.

[Evening thunder]

Pretty underwhelming compared to what the statistics for the UK will say really..

Saw no settling snow apart from about an inch of wet snow briefly on the journey home from Surrey to Devon, and about 3mm to 1cm when I drove to hills of 250-300m in altitude in East Devon a few days ago.

Apart from that, just a few snow flurries, plenty of cold days, plenty of cloudy easterlies (more sun recently on some days thankfully), frost but little visible frost due to dry air and/or cloud, only one notable cold min of -4.4C which was beaten in March 2010 and equaled in April 2008, and isn't too unusual. So a lack of visible frost and low mins like the whole year so far.

Notable for the mean maximum and mean temps being well below average though, and some notable low maxima such 2.4c on the 11th, 2.7c on the 24th and 3.1c on the 25th. Also notable for the persistence of below average maxima with only 1 day in the last 21 days exceeding 10C.

The most notable weather event though at home was probably rain, 42.4mm on the 21st with some flooding of local streams and rivers, and 62.8mm on the 21st and 22nd combined. I don't remember that much in March before although I was not home to witness it.

All in all I will probably remember it partly or mainly for the persistence of easterly winds bringing not a lot of interesting weather for me, with lots of cold/below average delaying spring later in the month. The -13/-14C 850hpa temps on the 11th were interesting to have happen though.

I will also remember it for some major snow/blizzard events for places with some amazing pics, i.e many places further north than me, or the Channel Islands Blizzard (had that low been 50 miles further north my summery of the month may have been rather different).

Edited April 1, 2013 by Stormmad26

[4wd]

Until the 10th it was not that unusual after a winter somewhat below average.

Something changed through that day as seriously cold air flirted with the east coast

I had been out working on a hedge through the afternoon.

A few flakes of snow fell and I knew it was cold as the ground was freezing despite sunny spells.

When I came in at 4pm, it was already -2C

We are still essentially in the same exceptionally below average air mass three weeks on.

[Guest pjl20101]

There is a queue of reasons why it was so cold; AO and NAO being negative. The SSW in January didn't help either along with other events like the Asian mountain torque and the Cohen effect. Wondering if the QBO transition caused havoc too?

A number of forecasting centres were correct to be suspicious about the month as its exactly how they painted it to be like sotus speak. It astounded me with how bitter it was as you would think with our mild days at the beginning that it would set the tone, but that high retrogressed to Greenland and eventually the arctic allowing us to have frigid air from Russia that couldn't be stopped really.

One of the most extraordinary months ever in my books and a punishment on our recent warm marches if you like. Who knows if this could be a trend for colder times ahead? But it does seem that way sadly. The thing is cooling is worse than warming as you have to pay more to heat your house sort of thing.

Joe b hinted in one of his YouTube that there would be a very strong possibility of global cooling with a natural reversal of temperatures, low solar cycles and increased volcanic activity. Should have mentioned this in the other thread that he said nothing of the sorts about an ice age, but we probably are going to have the average climate of the 1960s and 1970s if it makes sense.

[hillbilly]

i guess that had this march been in the 80s we would have said it was a bit colder than usual with a very notable blizzard,so for cold it has been impressive yes since 1962it has been the coldest march and the first real blizzard since 1995,possibly bigger drifts since the early 80s but maybe only just beating the blizzards of 1995,1990,1987,1984,1982 1981they were all close.not as big as the monsters of 1979.people have short memories

[MP-R]

March has been incredible for a whole different reason here in Madrid. I wasn't here from the 1st-3rd but it rained on the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th (with some wet snow), 16th, 17th, 19th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 29th, & 31st. That's 18 out of 28 days I was there, and it may have rained in the first three days. That is impressive for technically quite a dry city. There was a notable thunderstorm on the 7th and a pretty decent one on the 24th too. There were wintry showers on the 13th which are virtually unheard of actually in the capital. It was also a very windy month with poor levels of sunshine and the temperature never surpassed 20C which it has normally done by the 10th March nearly every year.

Yes, March in the UK has been impressively cold (coldest since 1892 apparently) but it has not delivered to many people in the south, neither where I am from in Bristol nor where a lot of my friends are at uni in Egham. For that, I'm glad to have been in Madrid where, for me, the weather has been very interesting during March. Madrilenos have a different opinion though haha.

[Ben_Cambs]

A very notable month for cold. The mean temperature for March was just 2.3C, colder than any of the winter months just gone (February was coldest with a mean temperature of 2.7C), such an average would of been unthinkable a few years ago, let alone in March! Coldest temperature recorded was -8C, which is also very notable for March. Another very interesting statistic was the prevalent wind direction, nearly half of the time the wind came from a NE'ly direction!

As for snow, must of been at least 7-8 days of snow falling, not so many lying with a couple of inches on the 23rd and some light coverings on a couple of other days, though pretty rare for here it has to be said.

Only a couple of days that can be classed as spring-like, with one standout day on the 5th, when it reached 16C. (Statistics from Cambridge University weather station).

So yes quite an incredible month for cold!

[Cheese Rice]

An exceptional March here, temperatures were constantly suppressed with eight ice days!

Here's the run of max temperatures from the 17th - 31st:

3/1/4/0/2/1/-1/-2/0/0/0/-1/1/2/3/3

We are now on the 11 consecutive day of snow cover, taken earlier today...

Edited April 1, 2013 by Cheese Rice

[ARW WeatherMan]

Cold! Cold! Cold! All I will remember from this whole winter and now the beginning of Spring is Easterly winds, seemingly endless days of dark grey cloud, a BITTER wind and snow flurries on accasion. March for me was just winter being dragged into the beginning of spring and because of lack of frosts (Air too dry) and lack of deep cold nights (Too much cloud cover) this winter and March will be remembered as just dull and cold which is why I would prefer another 2010/11 winter anyday, atleast there was a lot of frost, low temperatures and SUN! Oh how I miss the Sun! I am even considering sunbathing tomorrow (despite the 7oC high forecast) purely because I get SAD and having the sun on my skin will make me happy (I will also get my first really good tan of the year too! I did get a slight colour on the 5th!)

[Mark Neal.]

A very cold month, with 8 days of snow falling, with Sunday 17th march seeing 4cm from 8:30am to 11am. Then 6 days later Rain turned to snow with 5cm falling on shotover hill across the road from mine. But through most of my life time march has had a mix of nice settled spring warmth and some cold transitions, but never a month where we saw easterly winds for the most part with weather systems bringing snow, and plenty of snow showers. Incredible march stats broken left right and centre, i'm sure there wont be many March's like this through my lifetime!

[CongletonHeat]

Incredibly rubbish, too cold, too much snow.

[Stu_London]

i guess that had this march been in the 80s we would have said it was a bit colder than usual with a very notable blizzard,so for cold it has been impressive yes since 1962it has been the coldest march and the first real blizzard since 1995,possibly bigger drifts since the early 80s but maybe only just beating the blizzards of 1995,1990,1987,1984,1982 1981they were all close.not as big as the monsters of 1979.people have short memories

I think it would have been pretty spectactular in the 80s and any other decade in the last 50 years. The longevity of the cold spell and the fact that it was pretty much a nationwide event are the standout facts.

[Bishop Brennan]

Number of days whereby the temperature at my local weather station dropped to zero or below during the month of March.......

March 2009 = 5 days

March 2010 = 10 days

March 2011 = 9 days

March 2012 = 2 days

March 2013 = 23 days

And where March 2013 resides within the past five years of recordings.........

1. March 2013 = 23 days

2. December 2010 = 20 days

3. February 2013 = 18 days

4. January 2010 = 17 days

5. January 2009 = 15 days

Says it all, really!

Bish

Edited April 2, 2013 by Bishop Brennan

[hillbilly]

I think it would have been pretty spectactular in the 80s and any other decade in the last 50 years. The longevity of the cold spell and the fact that it was pretty much a nationwide event are the standout facts.

i wasnt saying that it wasnt impressive just that it is more impressive compared to modern marches.met office for bradford givesboth 1947[1.75] and 1917[2.3] both colder 1980,84,85,86,87,88 are 3.9,4.3,4.35,4.65,3.85and 5.5 respectively,yes not as cold as 2013 but colder than average and some notably wintery

[stewfox]

2 weeks and 2 days of lying snow up to 2nd April. OK snowman almost gone. Still amazing.

[Richard Lake]

Very cold here for March, however nothing incredible happened, a few days of lying 2-5cms, melted quickly when the sun came out - more so during the final week of the month. Not comparable to December 2010 in the slightest.

Although the snow was often, it was very spoardic and never really lasted long enough to amount to much this side of the country.

If this cold spell arrived during January the story would have been much different.

Still to end on a plus, nice to see the Winter period (Dec 21st-Mar 20th) returning a below average temperature compared to recent years.

Edited April 2, 2013 by djrikki

[Richard2901]

Incredibly rubbish, boring and unpleasant. A reminder of how vile and hateful easterly winds are.

1947 and 1958 were cold, snowy classics. This was a dull grey horror show to forget. Only useful snow came from a brief northerly on the 13th/14th. Not one day in the second half had snow lying beyond noon. It was just grey and depressing weather day in day out that has meant we have reached April with no visible signs of spring. Crocuses haven't even fully opened yet.

It didn't even make the top 10 coldest Marches here due to the pathetic lack of cold minima. I recorded lower temperatures in the Marches of 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010. However maxima were lower than in most of the top 10 coldest Marches. Even with a day max of only 0.5C on the 23rd we never went below freezing the following night. That just sums up what a pathetic month it was.

The only positive was that it was nowhere near as bad as March 1996 when we racked up a record breaking 15 sunless days in a row, again courtesy of easterly winds which I would ban at all times of the year if I could.