Last week had a chilly north-westerly when hail showers fell widely, and showers of sleet and, over much of England and Wales, snow penetrated locally to low levels in heavier showers and fell more widely on high ground. Parts of Scotland, particularly northern Scotland, had snow more widely to low levels.
But by historical standards, this was not a particularly potent cold snap. The last time snow fell widely at low levels in the second half of the month was right at the end of the month, from a north-easterly on 30/31 March 2022. Many eastern areas woke up to a snow cover on the 31st as well, although on low ground it quickly melted in the sunshine in between the showers. Since 2010, other examples of widespread snow in the second half of March have been surprisingly rare (considering how common they were until 2008 - in 2008 many of us had a white Easter).
The only other widespread examples that I can think of since 2010 were the frontal snowfalls on 21-22 March 2013, during an exceptionally cold month, which brought exceptional drifts over the Pennines, followed by about ten days of easterly winds and snow flurries, and many of the snow drifts on the Pennines were still there in early April, I remember seeing them when taking a trip from Yorkshire across to Lancashire. 17/18 March 2018 had an exceptionally cold easterly, overshadowed by the "Beast from the East" on 27 February-1 March of the same year, which brought widespread snow showers to the east on the 17th and then the south-west was particularly affected by persistent snow on the 18th. Wintry showers also fell quite widely from a north-westerly on 31 March 2015. But generally snowfalls in the second half of March have become pretty rare at low levels, especially in the south.
Correspondingly, March 2026 is looking set to be yet another warm month, with the Central England Temperature (a continuation of a long-running temperature series, roughly representing the English Midlands, from 1659) currently running at 8.2°C. While this is not exceptionally warm by recent standards, from the 1660s through to the 1980s, none of the decades saw March average higher than 6°C. When I was growing up in the 1990s, a March Central England Temperature of 8.2°C was considered unusually warm. The record highest, 9.2°C in 1957, is looking like it could well get beaten in the near future, but it looks unlikely to be beaten this year, with a final outcome of around 8.5°C looking most likely.
Spring has been the fastest warming season in the UK in recent years, and in the past two years, two very different springs - the dull and wet one in 2024 and the sunny and dry one in 2025 - ended up as the two warmest on record. There are no signs of any substantial cold weather coming up either. A week ago, it looked likely that we might move into a spell of chilly north and east winds, but now it is looking probable that highest pressure will remain mainly to the south of Britain, with winds tending to blow from the west or south for most of the time - traditionally warm wind directions at this time of year - and just the occasional colder north-westerly.
North America saw a west-east split in the weather last winter. There were repeated cold northerly outbreaks in the eastern USA which resulted in a colder than average winter, but cold air outbreaks were very few and far between in the western USA, which resulted in many western states having their mildest winter on record. A look at North American temperatures during the coming 7-10 days suggests frequent temperature fluctuations, as the Arctic still remains quite cold at this time of year, while lower latitudes are warming up. There has recently been an exceptional "heat dome" in the south-west of North America, particularly around California, Nevada and Arizona, with temperatures hitting the mid to high 30s Celsius, and this will spread eastwards to other parts of North America during the next few days. However, it is forecast to be followed by a couple of cold northerlies, which have potential to bring some snow to the north-east of North America. Some very cold air is forecast to establish over much of Canada for a time, with temperatures dropping below -30°C in some regions.
Generally the USA and Canada experience a lot more temperature variability, except around the coasts, because of the land mass being much larger, meaning that both warm southerlies and cold northerlies send air masses in that have little modification over the oceans. Conversely, our cold north-westerly in Britain last week saw a scoop of cold air come in from Greenland, but it was heavily modified as it passed over the North Atlantic, warmed by the North Atlantic Drift from the Gulf Stream, and so temperatures in the end were not particularly cold.
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