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graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 603         For    MARCH    2006
    COLDEST MARCH SINCE 1996. FREQUENT AND SOMETIMES HEAVY SNOWFALLS IN SCOTLAND.
Text Box: A very cold, dry, and generally cloudy easterly airflow developed on the 14th and persisted until the 23rd. Sub-zero maxima were again reported in Scotland and northern England on the 12th, 13th, 16th, 21st and 22nd, and even in southern districts highs of 2 to 5°C were typical. Many places had occasional slight snow flurries, but heavier snow affected parts of northern Britain on the 14th and 22nd. A deep depression approached the UK from the southwest on the 23rd, and from the 24th onwards a very disturbed but much warmer south to southwesterly airflow covered the British Isles. Rain fell frequently, heaviest in western districts where Capel Curig (Snowdonia) recorded 255mm of rain during the last eight days, including 64mm on the 27th alone. Hail and thunder were noted on several days, but there were occasional sunny spells too, and the temperature climbed to 13-16°C daily, reaching 17.8°C at Scampton (Lincs) on the 26th, while a notably high overnight minimum of 12.1°C was recorded at East Malling (Kent) the following night. There was a short-lived ‘Fen Blow’ in East Anglia on the 28th. Mean temperature was generally between 0.5 and 1.5 degC below the long-term average, slightly more in northern Scotland, and as measured by the CET it was the coldest March since 1996 although only marginally colder than 2001. In East Anglia and Southeast England monthly rainfall was slightly below normal, but everywhere else it was a wet March and more than twice the usual amount of rain fell in central and southern Scotland, northern England, and north and mid Wales. Sunshine slightly exceeded the average in East Anglia and the Southeast, but was below average everywhere else with less than 60 per cent of the normal amount locally in northeast Scotland.
Text Box: The main feature of March’s weather was an extended spell of cold and cloudy easterlies which lasted for almost two weeks during the middle of the month. The first week was also very cold, courtesy of a northerly outbreak, but a cyclonic type held sway during the second week and from the 24th onwards. On the mean monthly sea-level pressure chart, the Icelandic Low was displaced to Newfoundland, a weak Azores High was located near Madeira, and high pressure was centred near northern Greenland. The main anomaly centres were +13mbar over eastern Greenland and -12mbar between Newfoundland and the Azores, and the anomalous flow was easterly over northern and central parts of the UK, but southerly in southern districts. The late-February Arctic outbreak lasted until the 7th. Most areas had snow showers, and these were frequent and heavy in northern and eastern Scotland where 30cm accumulated at Glenlivet (Banffshire), and also in northeast England, north Wales and the northwest Midlands. Most of the UK also had abundant sunshine and night frosts were severe. Minima below -10°C were recorded early on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, with -16.4°C at Altnaharra (Sutherland) on the 3rd the lowest. Afternoon maxima below zero were reported widely in Scotland and northern England on each of the first four days, none lower than -1.3°C at Fylingdales (North Yorks) on the 4th. Atlantic fronts advancing across the country brought widespread rain, local thunder, and a general rise in temperature from the 7th to the 10th. A renewed surge of cold air, this time coming from the southeast, engaged the next Atlantic system on the 12th, resulting in widespread snow in western districts, heaviest in southwest and central Scotland where depths of at least 40cm were reported unofficially, meanwhile 30-40mm of rain fell in Northern Ireland and in Galloway.
                                                                                                                                           
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE                             RAINFALL        
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                   
                                          Highest and lowest totals                     Highest and lowest totals