March climate

Spring is supposed to be here, are you listening Mother Nature? In the weather world, winter ends as February draws to a close and the spring months are March, April and May.

There seems to be a slight delay in 2015 but by this weekend  7/8^th March, there could be some warmth to enjoy. Temperatures should rise up into double figures with 16C (61F) showing on the charts for Sunday in the SE. Could we even see 20C this month? There is already a thread on the Netweather forum (see link at end) for you to have a guess about where and when it will occur. I’ve gone for Aberdeenshire in last week of March, wait for the Foehn effect to kick in.

The highest March temperature (on record for UK) was right at the end of March, 29^th 1968 up to 25.6C for Mepal in Cambs, just West of Ely.

With brisk SW winds, Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire saw the top February temperature 15.6C on the 18^th. The lowest Feb. temperature was in Cumbria at Bewcastle down to -10.9C on the 3^rd .There has been some stormy weather and snow, which was mainly from the NW. The ski resorts in Scotland are having another good season this year. Deepest snow depth in February Aviemore (Invernesshire)  21cm on the 1^st .Tulloch Bridge nearby saw 14cm last night (2/3^rd march)

All this snow and cold isn’t ideal for lambing but temperatures can vary greatly in March with a bit more strength in the sunshine. Also, as blossom, crocuses, and daffodils appear and the birds get busy checking out nest sights, there are hints of leaving winter behind.

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: 
when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. "
~Charles Dickens Great Expectations

This past winter looks like it could be the sunniest on record for the UK as a whole (figures from the Met. Office). Eastern Britain has seen over 135% of the usual sunshine hours in the past 3 months. It has only been a few western fringes having a rather dull winter and those areas have seen the wintry showers continuing to flow in.

I found a few sayings linking March fog to May frosts 'For every fog in march there's a frost in May'. the German & French versions 'So many mists in March, so many frosts in May'. Too windy at the start of March for fog but keep an eye out.

This month brings the solar eclipse on the 20th. A partial eclipse will be visible over the UK, cloud permitting, total from the Faeroe Islands. (see thread in forum)

Already the evenings are getting noticeably lighter and the mornings too, especially in Scotland. The clocks will change at the end of the month and confuse small children for a while, and we have to work with BST and adjusting the forecast models by an hour  for 6 months. Enjoy the flowers and sunshine.