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graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 567                    UNSETTLED START, THEN DRY SUNNY AND WARM         For    MARCH    2003
Text Box: temperature climbed from -8.9°C at daybreak to 17.9°C by early afternoon - a diurnal range of 26.8 degC which is just a degree short of the UK record for March. From the 21st to the 29th highest pressure lay over central or eastern Europe, but a persistent ridge extended across the British Isles throughout, maintaining the fine weather. Most places remained dry with abundant hazy sunshine and light breezes; there was frost in many places at night, but most days were warm with 20°C logged at a few sites on the 23rd, 26th and 27th. Isolated showers occurred from the 24th onwards, a few heavy ones in Cornwall and the Channel Isles on the 27th and 28th, and wintry showers affected Shetland on the 29th. A new anticyclone from the Atlantic brought more sunshine on the last two days of the month, but rain spread across Scotland and Ireland as March drew to a close. Mean maximum temperatures were 2-3 degC above normal while mean minima were close to the long-term average. Overall it was the warmest March only since 1998 but the mean maximum was the highest since 1938 at a few localities. Scattered places in western Britain collected their normal amount of rain, but elsewhere it was a very dry March with only 11mm recorded at Lowestoft (Suffolk) and Bridlington (E.Yorks). Several locations in eastern England had no measurable rain after the 7th. Sunshine was generally 50-100 per cent above normal, and it was widely the sunniest March since 1929, and locally since 1907.
Text Box: A changeable southwesterly regime during the first eleven days or so gave way to anticyclonic conditions for the remainder of the month, although pressure declined slowly during the last nine or ten days. Mean sea-level pressure anomaly ranged from +4 mbar at Scilly to +8 mbar on the Yorkshire coast, with an anticyclonic/ southeasterly anomalous flow over the British Isles. Fronts and troughs in a disturbed southwesterly flow crossed the UK almost daily between the 1st and the 11th; this period was generally mild, cloudy and windy with a good deal of rain. Wettest days were the 1st, 5th, 7th and 8th - Capel Curig (Snowdonia) recorded 112mm of rain in the 48hr beginning 09GMT on the 7th - while drier and brighter interludes occurred on the 2nd and 6th. The flow veered northwesterly on the 11th behind a trough which brought 50mm of rain to Loch Glascarnoch (Wester Ross), and it became colder in all areas with maxima between 5 and 8°C, some hill snow, and there was local frost the following night. Strong pressure rises led to the establishment of an intense anticyclone over or near to the UK later on the 12th, its central pressure reaching 1047mbar on the 15th, and it moved little until the 20th. It became sunny in western districts on the 12th and all areas enjoyed prolonged sunshine daily from the 14th onwards although some mornings were foggy. Frost occurred widely at night, but daytime temperatures soon recovered and it became warm in many areas by the 17th. Maxima above 19°C were logged in Scotland and Wales, while at Altnaharra (Sutherland) the
                                                                                                                                           
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE                             RAINFALL        
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                   
                                          Highest and lowest totals                     Highest and lowest totals        
                                              on record for month    
Maximum fall in 24 hrs (beginning 09 h)
                    on record for month    
Days with snow or sleet
 
Days with fog (Vis <220 yards at 09 h)