March 2014 Summaries & Statistics

[TonyH]

Mild and fairly dry

 

Generally mild, nothing especially cold, no snow, although frosts were quite frequent with 13 air frost, as many as in January and February 2014 combined. A welcome relief from the rains, with just 69mm it was the driest month since last July (41mm). Quite sunny with an estimated 127 hours.

 

1^st – 6^th: Unsettled with rain at times and quite windy. Quite mild but with some frosts. Rather cloudy but some sunny intervals

 

7^th – 15^th: Dry and mild to very mild. High pressure close by UK, a very sunny spell with temperatures at times very high for March, the warmest being 17c 9^th, several days having almost unbroken sunshine. Strong winds on 7^th and 8^th became generally moderate breezes. Often clear by night too so that frosts quite prevalent, the low of -3.6c 14^th this the lowest reading since November (-7.3c).

 

16^th – 19^th: Mostly dry, bar showers 18^th, cloudier and at times quite windy, just a few sunny intervals. Temperatures average to mild

 

20^th – 24^th: Cool and quite windy, showery, hail, sunny spells between. Frost by night, min -3.9c 24^th.

 

25^th – 28^th: Average temperatures, often dry, just a few showers and decent sunny spells. Slight frosts by night.

 

29^th - 31^st : Warm with sunny spells; very warm 30^th – maximum 20.6c not quite as high as in March 2012 (20.9c). Thunder then rain cooled it down later on 31^st.

 

 

 

Total rainfall: 68.8mm (77% local historical average)

Wettest day: 10.6mm 2^nd

Rain days >0.2mm: 15
Wet days >1.0mm: 12
Days of heavy rain >10mm: 1

Mean temperature: 7.0c

Mean Max: 11.9c

Mean Min: 2.0c

 

High Max: 20.6c 30^th
Low Max: 7.3c 3^rd
High Min: 8.8c 9^th
Low Min: -3.9c 24^th

 

Est sun: 127hr

Max sun: 10 hours 10^th/ 12^th

Days no sun: 3

Air frost: 13

Ground frost: 18

Ice day (max below 0c): 0

Mean RH: 86%

High RH: 100% 1^st
Low RH: 43% 30^th

Predominant wind direction: SSW
Mean wind speed: 7.0mph

Max gust: 48mph 20^th

Mean pressure: 1015mbar
Max pressure: 1035mbar 11^th
Min pressure: 978mbar 3^rd

 

Days with:
 

Hail: 3
Gale: 0
Thunder: 1

Snow or sleet: 0

Snow lying 0900: 0
Fog: 3

Fog at 0900: 1

Edited April 1, 2014 by TonyH

[Styx]

HOBART ( pop 215,000 ) Capital city of Tasmania. Location sealevel at base of Mt. Wellington (1270m). Climate: Temperate/maritime.

 

March - First month of autumn

This was the 4th warmest March in 133 years of records, but it was much cooler than the all-time record set in 2013, which was 0.8C warmer still.

 

Dry mainly sunny and anomalously warm for the first half of the month with stagnant high pressure to the east. The first half contained most of the months heat: 6 days above 25C, 2 of which were just over 30C. From the 16th-21st weak fronts cut thru, bringing only a shower or two. On the 21st a small low formed off the coast and a front stalled over Tasmania, bringing a rather cold day with rain ( 16mm ). The following two days were dry but cool ( max mid teens ),  then cool to mild but increasingly cloudy and humid as low pressure extended over the eastern side of the continent to give Hobart onshore winds. A brief period or two of light showers otherwise dry with low cloud and hill fog and calm. Temperature anomalies ( below ) are 81-10 comparison.

 

Average maximum:  22.0 ( +1.7 )

Average minimum:  12.6 ( +1.2 )

Rainfall:  23mm ( average 45mm )

Rain days ( +1mm ):  4/from 8

 

Extremes in daily temperature for March ( Records since 1882 ):

 

Highest maximum:  32.0 11th ( Record 37.3 in 2008 )

Lowest maximum:  14.8  21st ( Record 8.9 in 1925 )

 

Highest minimum:  17.1 5th,10th ( Record 21.1 in 1906 )

Lowest minimum:  8.6 23rd, 24th ( Record 1.8 in 1926 )

Edited April 2, 2014 by Styx

[johnholmes]

Cantley March data

 

Mean=8.7(7.5)

Avge Max=13.3(11.3) Highest daytime=19.0(9) and lowest=9.3(22)

Avge Min=4.0(3.7) Lowest overnight=-1.9(24) and warmest overnight=9.3(15)

 

Rainfall=20.4 with the wettest day=27; 13 days with 0.2mm or more and 7 with 1.0mm or more

 

3 air frosts (4) and 14 ground frosts (9), no snow, thunder or hail. 4 mornings with fog (5)

 

Overall a big contrast to the very cold month of March in 2013. The daytime temperatures skewed the mean value. More ground frosts than usual, see figures above. Also fairly dry.

[Stargazer]

Finally got around to posting my summary for last month...

 

My statistics for central Reading in March 2014:Average maximum: 13.9Average minimum: 3.4Average for month: 8.6Highest maximum: 20.3 (30 March)Lowest maximum: 8.6 (25)Highest minimum: 10.4 (31)Lowest minimum: -2.4 (24)Air frosts: 7

No sleet or snow observed.  Thunder heard on 2 days.

The Reading University station web site recorded approximately 30mm of rainfall, which is about 75% of the long-term average.A generally dry and sunny month with plenty of warm springlike days and frequent night frosts, a complete contrast to the exceptionally wet winter we've just had.  There were two short colder spells, at the start of the month and from the 23rd to 27th.  The minimum of -2.4 on the 24th was lower than for the whole of winter 2013/14, and the total number of air frosts was only two short of the total for the entire winter period.  Sunny days and clear nights gave some notably wide diurnal temperature ranges during the month; in particular on the 9th with a minimum of 2.2 followed by a maximum of 19.1, a range of 16.9 degrees C.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Stargazer