March Blizzard

Not sure if you mean in a single calender month or the overall temperature disparity for any given month of the year. I found these stats on the Met Office website. Not sure how accurate they are: Jan - High: 18.3C, Low: -27.2C, Variation: 45.5C Feb - High: 19.7C, Low: -27.2C, Variation: 46.9C Mar - High: 25.6C, Low: -22.8C, Variation: 48.4C Apr - High: 29.4C, Low: -15.0C, Variation: 44.6C May - High: 32.8C, Low: -9.4C, Variation: 42.2C Jun - High: 35.6C, Low: -5.6C, Variation: 41.2C Jul - High: 36.5C, Low: -2.5C, Variation: 39.0C Aug - High: 38.5C, Low: -4.6C, Variation: 43.1C Sep - High: 35.6C, Low: -6.7C, Variation: 42.3C Oct - High: 29.9C, Low: -11.7C, Variation: 41.6C Nov - High: 21.7C, Low: -23.3C, Variation: 45.0C Dec - High: 18.3C, Low: -27.2C, Variation: 45.6C It appears that March actually experiences the biggest extremes in temperatures throughout the year, July the least. It doesn't really surprise me to be honest, March can have perishingly cold nights on par with the winter months, but can also experience quite balmy day time temperatures too, especially when April is knocking on it's door.

Let's pretend that the MO announced that they were establishing a new official observation station, and they allowed you a completely unrestricted choice on where it would be placed, where would you put it, and why? I, personally, would put mine in a high altitude valley, preferably sheltered to the north, somewhere in the North Pennines. As a fan of cold winter nights i think such a place would throw up some interesting results to say the least! Second choice would be a similar location somewhere in the Cairngorms, for the same reasons. I would love to see if this Island of ours could crack -30C on the coldest of nights.

I'll go for the old average: 5.7C - A complete guess! The beauty of March is that is possibly the most varied month for weather - Snow, sleet, hail, wind, rain, cold, mild, warm, dry, sunny, dull are all possible throughout the month in almost equal measure; March is rarely a boring month! Also, i expect no less than a Blizzard on my birthday!

Every room in the house I grew up in! Only single glazed windows didn't help, especially when you consider the house backed onto open fields less than half a mile from where the Woodford Met office station is now - notorious frost hollow! Ice on the inside of windows and seeing your own breath while in bed was fairly commonplace. It was nice when the heating worked, but it seemed like the boiler was on the blink far too often! The house I'm in now is tropical by comparison!

I think we were just 0.4 degrees away from -20 in Dec 2010...Chesham i think. Pershore and Topcliffe also came very close with temps of -19 or lower but I dont think we ever quite hit -20. Could it be as far back as Jan 82 that England reached -20 or lower? Feb 86? Jan 87? Dec 95? That's why I'm frustrated that the cloud ruined it for tonight, there was a fair chance England could have recorded it's lowest temperature for maybe 30 years! -12C at 7pm, it makes you wonder...

I've been wondering the same; when was the last time -20 was recorded in England? If it wasn't for the cloud there was probably a slim chance of it happening somewhere in the East/South early tomorrow morning.

Cough** -17.6, Crosby, Dec 2010, **Cough!

"And March 11th has a mean of 6.6C here compared to 5.4C on December 14th" ...I might keep that one quiet! Seriously though 14th Dec, here at least, usually feels more Autumnal - Low/mild maxima and similar minima whereas Mar 11 can have quite balmy maxima but nearly always has lower minima. Oh well! It's also interesting that the lowest temperature of the year (since 1900) has occured on 30th Dec 6 times, more than any other date. Second place is...3rd March, believe it or not, with 5 (joint with 14 Feb). Interestingly, Dec 14 has never featured, Mar 11 has!

Interesting topic. If you look at the stats March and December are closer to one another, temperature wise, than many people think or realise. At only 1.2 Degrees apart (CET) they are closer than say October and November, June and July, and even their respective warmer neighbours (November and April). It's a classic...no, its the example of low solar output vs seasonal lag. I like to summarise it like this: December inherits any warmth, but makes none of it's own, whereas March is the exact opposite, it inherits no warmth, but begins to create it's own. The "early March vs early December" debate in this topic particularly interests me, and it's something ive mulled over before; is early March (1-15) actually colder, on average, than early December (1-15). If you take two very close months for temperature and chop off the warmer half of one and the colder half of the other, do the remains actually compare? It would be great if someone actually had the hard facts to put the argument to bed. It would certainly settle a long standing argument between me and my brother - who's birthday is colder? His December 14th or my March 11? It seems like most years, in the UK at least, the increasing sun strength in March just edges out December's lack thereof, but it's often a close one. We must also remember that we have been relatively spoilt by March in the last 20 years or so, with only the odd exception its often been warmer than average and is actually the month that has seen the biggest rise in temperature in the CET series (+0.6). I think this might also play a part in the average joe thinking March is much warmer than december, especially after the last few Decembers. In a sense people have forgotten just how cold and snowy March can potentially be, especially in the early part of the month. Lets not forget, it took the severe cold of Jan 2010 to crack the -20 acheived in March 2001, a record the month clung onto for nearly 9 years! Lets also not forget that the deepest snow recorded in the UK, and indeed the world, were both recorded in March. Also, those of us writing off winter already should take heart in the fact that the lowest temperature of the year has occured in March 16 times in the last 110 years. The facts don't lie, December is colder than March, but March is certainly no slouch when it comes to cold and snow, it's just been kind to us for the last few decades!