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Weather logMarch 2014Dry, sunny and rather warm, but not as good as March 2012

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All the charts on these pages are © Crown Copyright, Met Office.Charts on this page are based on NCEP Re-analysis data provided by the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

1000–500hPa thickness anomalies (dam) with respect to the 1961–1990 average.

Mean 500hPa height (dam).

Mean sea-level pressure (hPa). Dotted lines show anomalies with respect to the 1961–1990 average.

Mean sea-level pressure over the British Isles was much more ‘normal’ than any of the three winter months, ranging from 1hPa below average in the Western Isles of Scotland to 1hPa above average in the east of East Anglia. There was an extended dry and sunny spell over southern England which lasted from the 4th to the 19th, and most parts of the country (except for Northern Ireland) reported a sunny and warm month. It was also dry away from northern and western Scotland, Northern Ireland and northwest England.

The first three days of March continued the unsettled weather of February with a deep depression settling over the country on the 2nd/3rd. Some 10–20mm of rain fell over much of southern England, South Wales, and central Scotland and the 1st to the 4th were generally rather cold. Much of southeast and central southern England became dry on the 4th though the dry weather made only slow progress northwards; 46mm of rain fell at Achnagart (Wester Ross) on the 5th and 53mm at Eskdalemuir (Dumfriesshire) on the 6th. With high pressure over central Europe it also became markedly warmer over most of England and Wales from the 5th onwards thanks to a southerly flow devel-oping, though a daytime maximum of 3.3°C was registered at Dalwhinnie (Inverness-shire) on the 7th. The warmest day during this spell was the 9th with a high of 20.5°C at Gravesend/Broadness (Kent) and 20.2°C at St James’s Park (London) and the sun shone for 11.1h at Ronaldsway (Isle of Man) on the 11th. The 11th, 12th and 13th were dry over the entire country thanks to high pressure being in charge, though occasional rain returned to western Scotland from the 14th onwards as the high drifted westwards to a position southwest of Biscay. Radiation frosts occurred widely between the 11th and 13th with a lowest value of −6.5°C at Aboyne (Aberdeenshire) on the 12th.

Rain returned to the whole country on the 19th with 79mm at Cluanie Inn and 74mm at Achnagart (both Wester Ross) on that day, though rainfall amounts were small in southern, central and eastern Britain. A strong westerly flow developed between the 20th and 23rd, introducing generally rather cold and showery weather with a high of just 2.3°C at Dalwhinnie (Inverness-shire) on the 21st; thunder and hail occurred widely on the 22nd and 23rd. A ridge crossed the country overnight 23rd/24th and this was the frostiest night of the month with −6.8°C recorded at Redesdale (Northumberland). An easterly flow developed from the 26th onwards, veering southeasterly from the 29th. There were scattered thunder and hailstorms on the 26th and it remained rather cold for a few days, but that day there was a total of 11.9h bright sunshine at Lerwick (Shetland) and Kinloss (Morayshire). Away from the coasts of northeastern England and eastern Scotland it became appreciably warmer from the 29th onwards with highs of 20.9°C at St James’s Park (London) and Lynford (Norfolk), and overnight 29th/30th the temperature did not fall below 12.0°C at Porthmadog (Gwynedd).

Mean maximum temperature ranged from close to normal in Northern Ireland to 3.0 degC above in East Anglia, while mean minima were everywhere between 0.0 and 1.5 degC above; in the last 100 years there have been only 11 warmer Marches. Rainfall was close to the average in northern and western Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northwestern England, but below average in all other regions; the provisional England and Wales figure of 49mm was 69 per cent of the long-term mean, and 32 Marches in the last 100 years were drier. Sunshine percentages ranged from 102 in Northern Ireland to 151 in East Anglia; in the last 100 years just 13 Marches were sunnier. Aggregate sunshine hours varied between 85h at Eskdalemuir (Dumfriesshire) and 199h at Norwich airport (Norfolk).

© Philip Eden

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SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY

Atmospheric circulation March 2014Mean sea-level pressure and fronts, 1200 UTC daily

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WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

Weather log

March 2014

Dry, sunny and rather warm, but not as good as March 2012

Weather – M

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UK monthly data: March 2014Areal averagesRegion Max. temp. Min. temp. Mean temp. Sunshine Rainfall

Actual (°C)

Anom. (degC)

Actual (°C)

Anom. (degC)

Actual (°C)

Anom. (degC)

Actual (hours)

Anom. (%)

Actual (mm)

Anom. (%)

UK 10.5 +1.7 2.9 +0.8 6.7 +1.2 128.8 127 80.7 85England 11.7 +2.0 3.1 +0.5 7.4 +1.2 143.7 134 49.4 77Wales 10.6 +1.7 3.0 +0.4 6.8 +1.1 130.8 129 81.2 69Scotland 8.5 +1.3 2.4 +1.4 5.4 +1.3 109.6 118 131.8 93N Ireland 9.8 +0.6 2.8 +0.4 6.3 +0.5 94.8 97 83.0 87

Long-running time-seriesMarch 2014 Anomaly

Central England Temperature (CET) 7.6°C +1.0 degCEngland and Wales Rainfall (EWR) 53.8mm 74%The CET is supplied by Philip Eden (http://www.climate-uk.com/provisional.htm); the complete series runs from 1659. The EWR (which runs from 1910) and the areal averages are supplied by the Met Office (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries). All figures are provisional and all anomalies relate to the averages for the period 1981–2010.

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Data supplied by the Met Offi ce: www.metoffi ce.gov.uk

§ All averages are for the period 1981–2010, except for stations marked with an asterisk, for which averages are for the period 1961–1990.

The assistance of the Met Offi ce in producing the maps and tables is gratefully acknowledged.

doi:10.1002/wea.2200

SELECTED EUROPEAN STATIONS

CLIMATIC DATA FOR MARCH 2014TEMPERATURE SUNSHINE RAINFALL

Days w

ith snow

lying at 0900

Days w

ith fog (vis <200 m

at 0900)

Mean m

aximum

(°C)

Diff. from

1981–2010 average (degC)

Mean m

inimum

(°C)

Diff. from

1981–2010 average (degC)

Highest m

aximum

(°C)

Date(s)

Lowest m

aximum

(°C)

Date(s)

Lowest m

inimum

(°C)

Date(s)

No. of air frosts

No. of days w

ith grass m

in <0°C

Total for month (hours)

% of 1981–2010 average

Maxim

um duration

(hours)

Date(s)

Days w

ith no sunshine

Total for month (m

m)

% of 1981–2010 average

Max. fall in 24h from

0900 (m

m)

Date(s)

Days w

ith no rain (≤0.1m

m)

Map no. and place Alt. (m)

1 Stornoway 15 9.6 +1.4 4.3 +1.4 12.6 31 7.1 7,23 –1.1 24 1 4 104 115 10.2 27 5 105 90 23.8 19 9 0 0

2 Aviemore 228 9.6 +1.8 1.9 +1.6 16.2 31 4.7 21 –5.5 24 6 15 114 125 9.9 24 2 59 69 13.4 20 9 0 0

3 Dyce 65 10.6 +1.9 3.4 +1.5 16.3 16 7.1 23 –3.9 26 5 14 133 117 10.7 12 4 35 58 8.0 6 17 0 0

4 Leuchars 10 10.3 +0.9 3.3 +1.3 14.7 16 6.7 30 –3.3 24 7 16 129 110 11.7 24 5 36 72 8.2 20 14 0 0

5 Bishopton 59 9.7 +0.8 3.5 +1.1 12.3 19 6.6 2 –2.8 24 3 14 100 104 10.7 24 7 127 102 22.0 6 5 0 0

6 Eskdalemuir 236 8.7 +1.2 1.8 +1.1 12.3 11 5.5 28 –5.6 24 12 14 85 107 10.3 12 6 191 124 52.6 6 5 2 2

7 Durham 102 10.9 +1.4 3.2 +0.9 16.2 13 6.6 28 –3.8 24 6 14 – – – – – 33 74 5.2 27,28 14 – –

8 Rostherne 35 11.8 +1.4 2.8 –0.4 19.0 30 8.1 22 –2.6 24 7 – 124 128 10.9 11 6 53 93 9.0 22,31 10 0 0

9 Valley 10 11.1 +1.5 5.2 +0.8 19.0 30 8.3 27 1.3 12 0 8 122 107 10.9 11 3 54 86 12.4 6 11 0 0

10 Waddington 68 12.1 +2.3 3.3 +0.5 18.1 9 7.7 26 –1.7 24 2 11 146 135 10.4 9 1 27 65 6.2 27 15 0 0

11 Wattisham 89 13.0 +3.2 3.3 +0.8 19.2 30 7.3 1 –1.4 14 5 16 172 160 11.1 16 1 20 46 7.2 2 17 0 1

12 Cambridge 26 13.4 +2.8 3.4 +0.3 20.0 30 8.3 26 –1.8 24 4 14 – – – – – 19 50 5.4 26 17 – –

13 Shawbury 72 12.0 +1.9 2.4 +0.1 16.9 29 7.8 25 –4.0 24 7 17 140 144 10.2 9,16 3 41 89 8.4 31 12 0 0

14 Aberporth 133 10.5 +1.4 4.3 +0.2 18.8 30 6.3 13 0.5 14 0 10 131 118 10.8 11 3 49 78 9.0 31 14 0 1

15 Lyneham 145 11.5 +1.7 3.3 +0.4 17.9 29 7.3 26 –1.4 1 3 16 123 116 11.5 16 3 39 68 11.4 2 12 – –

16 Heathrow 25 14.1 +2.8 4.4 +0.6 19.8 30 8.9 3,25 –1.2 24 1 12 161 152 11.1 16 1 28 67 7.0 2 20 0 0

17 St Athan 49 11.3 +1.3 4.4 +0.4 18.0 30 8.1 3 –0.7 1 3 6 138 124 10.5 9 2 49 72 9.8 2 14 0 0

18 Hastings 45 12.6 +2.7 5.2 +1.0 18.3 16 7.9 25 1.4 24 0 5 177 139 11.4 16 2 30 56 13.3 20 22 0 0

19 Hurn 10 12.9 +1.9 2.7 0.0 17.7 16 8.6 26 –4.3 24 6 20 140 124 10.1 16 1 53 82 14.2 2 12 0 1

20 Camborne 87 10.3 +0.2 5.7 +0.3 15.6 9 6.8 27 1.8 28 0 4 94 86 10.4 8 7 67 84 20.8 24 12 0 1

21 Aldergrove 63 10.1 +0.6 3.6 +0.7 14.4 31 7.4 28 –2.0 3 3 11 90 94 10.5 11 6 71 105 13.6 6 9 0 2

Upper air soundings are available for 00 and 12h every day at : http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html (choose Europe and GIF: Skew-T and click on map over station you require)

EUROPE TEMPERATURE SUNSHINE RAINFALLM

ean m

aximum

(°C)

Diff. from

average § (degC)

Mean

minim

um (°C)

Diff. from

average § (degC)

Highest

maxim

um (°C)

Date(s)

Lowest

minim

um (°C)

Date(s

Total form

onth (hours)

% of average §

Total form

onth (mm

)

% of average §

Wet days

(days with ≥1m

m)

Diff. from

average wet

days (≥1mm

rain)

Alt. (m)

1 Murmansk 51 0.0 +2.3 –5.2 +3.3 5.5 10 –14.2 18 136 113 31 134 10 +32 Moscow 156 7.0 +4.4 –0.9 +3.5 19.7 25 –10.4 21 – – 18 51 4 –43 Kiev* 167 11.6 +7.2 2.4 +4.7 20.4 22 –1.8 17 – – 16 42 6 –24 Reykjavik 61 5.2 +1.8 –0.1 +1.8 10.6 31 –4.4 18 73 67 115 141 18 +45 Oslo 207 6.9 +3.8 –0.1 +4.8 – – – – – – 47 83 9 +06 Stockholm 52 8.1 +4.2 1.5 +3.1 14.0 29 –2.3 16 164 124 43 148 9 +27 Helsinki 56 5.6 +4.1 –2.2 +3.2 12.4 27 –13.1 20 – – 29 78 5 –48 Copenhagen* 5 9.5 +4.7 2.4 +2.8 16.5 10 –1.9 13 – – – – – –9 De Bilt 3 13.8 +3.8 3.1 +0.8 21.2 20 –2.3 25 203 167 26 38 3 –810 Paris 90 15.1 +3.2 3.5 –0.4 21.4 9 –2.2 2 205 – 9 19 3 –711 Marseille 32 17.2 +1.4 6.3 +0.1 21.7 16 1.4 5 252 106 22 73 3 –112 Warsaw 106 11.7 +4.9 2.4 +3.3 22.4 21 –4.3 9 182 141 35 116 5 –313 Berlin 99 13.4 +4.6 2.9 +2.1 22.0 21 –1.7 7 175 146 23 53 7 –314 Munich 444 13.6 +4.5 –1.5 –1.5 21.7 21 –5.6 1 213 166 20 35 3 –815 Prague 365 12.6 +4.5 1.4 +1.6 21.1 21 –3.7 1 157 125 37 133 6 –116 Budapest 139 16.1 +5.5 5.4 +3.4 21.9 21 1.1 14 219 153 11 36 5 –117 Bucharest 91 14.8 +3.4 2.2 +2.1 24.0 22 –4.3 13,30 137 91 41 105 8 +218 Belgrade* 132 16.0 +4.1 6.4 +3.1 23.4 22 1.5 11 209 137 49 98 8 +019 Lisbon 95 17.7 –0.9 10.4 –0.6 – – – – 200 93 65 122 8 +220 Madrid 667 16.6 +0.3 6.5 +0.3 23.2 18 2.0 27 – – 23 92 2 –221 Majorca 5 17.9 +0.4 6.1 +0.9 21.4 15 –0.3 8 210 104 11 42 4 –122 Gibraltar 5 17.7 –0.8 12.5 +0.0 22.4 18 9.9 29 – – 65 95 2 –423 Rome 3 16.6 +0.9 6.5 +1.0 20.1 31 1.4 3 – – 59 145 5 –124 Malta 91 16.9 –0.3 10.5 –0.1 23.4 18 7.0 12 214 96 45 118 7 +225 Athens* 10 – – – – – – – – – – – – –26 Istanbul* 18 14.7 +3.1 7.5 +3.1 21.0 22 1.4 14 – – 63 102 11 +227 Casement 93 10.6 +0.3 2.9 –0.4 15.0 31 –2.9 12 94 93 57 114 11 +028 Valentia 30 10.5 –0.5 5.2 –0.2 13.5 31 –0.5 11 – – 135 109 16 –1