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graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 591         For    MARCH    2005
    COLD FIRST HALF, VERY WARM SECOND HALF.  MOSTLY DRY BUT RATHER DULL.
Text Box: With pressure building over the near continent and mobility at last established between Scotland and Iceland, a warm and moist southwest to westerly flow flooded the country between the 15th and 18th. Prolonged orographic rain affected the western highlands, Cumbria and Snowdonia with 62.4mm at Broadford (Skye) on the 15th and 58.1mm at Dalmally (Argyll) on the 17th; Dalmally collected 146.2mm between the 14th and 17th inclusive. Further east and south it became sunny and very warm although southwest-facing coasts and hills were persistently foggy. Maxima of 18-21ēC occurred widely from the 16th-19th, with 21.6ēC at Wisley (Surrey) and 21.4ēC at Trawscoed (Ceredigion) on the latter date - the highest anywhere in the UK in March since 1990 - while overnight minima were also abnormally high with 12.8ēC logged at Ballykelly (Londonderry) on the 15th/16th. The flow backed south-easterly on the 20th and eastern districts became cloudier and cooler temporarily. From the 21st to the 25th fronts crossed the UK at intervals in a mainly southerly flow, and the weather became unsettled though still warm with maxima inland typically between 14 and 18ēC. Local thunderstorms were reported on several days. From the 26th the flowed backed easterly and most districts turned cloudier and colder with hill and coastal fog in the east, and heavy rain affected northern England on the 27th and southern Scotland on the 28th. Some southern and western districts, however, stayed bright and rather warm. Rain fell more generally on the 29th and 30th, and Shobdon in Herefordshire collected 45mm in 36 hours, but the month ended with a mostly dry day. Temperature-wise this was a month of two halves: the first half was the coldest since 1996 (in fact there has been no colder first week of March since 1971), and the second half the warmest since 1938. Over the entire month, mean temperatures were generally 0.5 to 1.5 degC above the 1971-2000 mean. It was another dry March over much of the UK, but the west and north of Scotland reported above-normal rainfall. Monthly sunshine aggregates were below the long-term mean especially in eastern districts, and locally in Yorkshire and Norfolk it was the dullest March since 1984.
Text Box: Northerly winds persisted over the UK for most of the first two weeks, but from the 14th until the 25th the prevailing flow was southwesterly or southerly, and the month ended with six days of easterlies. Mean sea-level pressure was almost uniform over the British Isles, and anomalies ranged from +0.5mbar in Cornwall to +5mbar in Shetland. On a broader scale, the Icelandic Low was displaced 1500km to the SSW of its normal position and was centred between Newfoundland and the Azores at 996mbar. The main anomaly centres were -18mbar near the Azores and +12mbar over Iceland, and an easterly anomalous flow extended from southern Scandinavia across the British Isles and the northern Atlantic to Quebec. High pressure persisted from Greenland to mid-Atlantic until the 13th, and disturbances in the mainly northerly airflow travelled southwards across the British Isles from time to time, maintaining the cold and changeable weather. One such depression crossed England on the 1st and became slow-moving near Kent on the 2nd, bringing widespread snow which was heavy and prolonged in Kent and East Sussex; 20cm accumulated in Canterbury with 30-35cm over the North Downs to the south and west of the city. Although much of the country was dry and sunny on the 3rd there were further frequent snow showers in Kent, and the following night was very frosty in the south with -11.5ēC at Boughton-under-Blean (COL site) in Kent. By this time a southward-moving frontal system brought further rain, preceded by snow, to northern Britain, and this affected southern districts on the morning of the 4th. Hail and thunder were reported locally in the rear of this system, and wintry showers returned to eastern districts on the 5th and 6th. The next four days were rather less cold, and although most eastern, central and southern districts were cloudy with a few light showers, there were long sunny periods in the north and west. A new Arctic outbreak on the 11th and 12th delivered heavy snow showers to many parts of Scotland, but other regions were largely dry and bright. At Boltshope Park in county Durham (434m amsl) snow, 32cm deep on the 1st, lay until the 14th.
                                                                                                                                           
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE