March Blizzard

Woah what on earth is going on?!! Just been woke up by heavy rain lashing against my window on strong squally winds. Sounded like a hurricane out there. Eerily quiet now...

At this juncture, how likely would you consider a post-correction final figure of 9.2C or above, equalling or beating the warmest March on record?

March 2012 generally had cool/cold, still and clear nights. Pretty much the opposite to now and is the reason it was cooler than this month up 'till now.

To be honest, this is the coldest mildest spell on record for me. Like how others have mentioned, the complete lack of sunshine and persistent winds have ensured that the house never really warms up during the day. I work outdoors, so I'm not afraid of any weather really, but it has actually felt a bit chilly in my house on occasion. Its nuts. I still cant get my head around this month being warmer than March 2012. Gotta love those big diurnal ranges!

Yeah, do you remember those cold 6C winter months?!!

Is that not exceptionally mild? Especially when you consider at that time Jan and Feb probably averaged in the low 3's Celsius, or even less.

I kind of agree with this, unbelievably. In a way I want the December CET record to be completely obliterated.

The mildest December and coldest February in the same Winter? That would be memorable! Anyway, it's Piers, should we pay much attention to what he says/implies?

I saw snow in January this year, so I've not had the same long wait as many in the south have had. However, whilst I can live without snow, It would be nice to at least have a cold, settled and sunny spell. Some low winter sun and frosty, starry nights would be some very welcome tonic. May have to wait a while to see that, though.

It's crazy to think that this month has a very good chance at ending up warmer than March 2012 (8.3C) and for the most part that felt absurdly warm for March. In a way I'm hoping that the current December record is obliterated, and we end up above 9.2C, the value for the warmest March on record. That would be a turn up for the books.

I mentioned this somewhere recently, a Decemeber warmer than the warmest March. 9.3C or higher...we couldn't, could we?!! Anyway, in regards to the CET comp, it looks I'll get off to a good start with third place (7.2C) barring any serious cool-down late in the month. Craig Evans has pretty much already won this month- wouldn't it be funny if he went too low!

I think nearly everyone in Europe wants this pattern to change, and likely for very different reasons. In much of the West and North of the UK we have seen enough rain for the winter already, whereas it looks like the continent is really dry. If we could send you some of our water, we would, there's more than enough here. It would be interesting to see a rainfall map of Europe for the past 6 weeks or so, I'd imagine there would be some major contrasts.

Fair enough, by northern England I meant more Cumbria/Northumberland rather than our locations. Saying that, if Redesdale is very mild then I'm obviously wrong! In my defence, I never mentioned "below average". It only got to around 7C in my location yesterday, and in the wind it felt quite raw. Certainly felt closer to average December than "mild".

The perception matches reality; the north/south temperature gradient has been stark and persistent for a while now, with the midlands south being very mild and northern England northwards being closer to average.

What about March and to a lesser extent Feb, WH? I'm thinking along the lines of a tail-end winter...

That really is quite ridiculous. What an odd quirk!

Wasn't warm out there today. Hovered around 7C here with a cold wind.

Never thought my 7.2C guess could be significantly too...low! I'm looking for a final CET of 9.3C, beating the warmest March on record (9.2C). Would it be foolish to rule even that out?

To me its like we are at an "all bets are off" point in regards to weather. Seems like anything can happen now.

Just seeing the footage on BBC news. Unreal. Feel so sorry for the people affected.

Just a thought, is this warmer than the figure for the 1st June? If so, has the first day of Winter ever been warmer than the first day of Summer in the same year? Edit* Looks like we just missed out - 1st June was 9.5C.

Either way, if that new figure is right, then that's still a decent jump to a new record. Insane rainfall up there.

Didn't we breach 300mm in Nov 2009 somewhere in Cumbria, Nick?

Puts it into perspective, the rain here has been relentless and annoying, yet it's not on the same level as those in Cumbria and other places are enduring with flooding. I really hope it eases soon and the minimal amount of damage is caused. It really has been nasty for quite a while now in the NW.

I'd imagine many places have surpassed it. If in remember correctly, it was more anomalously wet in the South then, so less* rain caused more problems in the form of flooding etc in places that don't normally see that much rain. This time round, however, it's the normally wet NW England, Wales and W Scotland that are anomalously wet, so you'd think these places have seen more rain at this point than the south did in 2013/14. *But still quite a bit! http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/anomacts