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graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 627         For    MARCH    2008
           RATHER COLD AT TIMES WITH FREQUENT RAIN; NOTABLY COLD SPELL OVER EASTER
Text Box: In the wake of the depression a northerly flow became established but a temporary rise in pressure meant that the period 17th-19th was cold and quite sunny with night frosts, while snow and hail showers were confined to eastern counties. Ronaldsway (Isle of Man) measured 11.1h of bright sunshine on the 17th, while Tulloch Bridge (Lochaber) fell to -7.0°C early on the 19th. A deepening depression tracked from Iceland past Shetland to Denmark during the 20th bringing some rain, strong winds, and temporary rise in temperature (up to 15.0°C at Leuchars), but in the rear of the depression northerly winds returned with renewed vigour. The Easter holiday (21st-24th) was one of the coldest on record with sharp night frosts and widespread snow and hail showers, although amounts of snow were mostly slight. It was windy on the 21st and 22nd with a gust of 70kn at Langdon Bay (Kent) on the latter date, but winds subsequently subsided. On the 24th the temperature remained below zero all day at a few sites in the highlands, notably at Braemar (Aberdeenshire) where the maximum that day was -0.9°C, and early on the 26th the mercury sank to -11.4°C at Braemar and to -11.1°C at Altnaharra (Sutherland). Milder but changeable and rather windy weather returned for the last few days of the month, and all areas had outbreaks of rain. The 30th was rather warm with long sunny spells but also isolated thunderstorms, and Howden (East Yorkshire) reported a high of 15.1°C. Mean maximum temperatures were 0.0-1.0degC below the 1971-2000 normal in most regions, but mean minima were within 0.5 degC of the normal. In northern Scotland, though, both values were 1.0-1.5degC below. The month’s absolute maximum of 15.4°C was lower than February’s; the last time this happened was in 1998. It was a rather wet month generally, and rainfall percentages approached 200 locally in western Scotland, southeast England and East Anglia where locally it was the wettest March since 1947. Small sunshine excesses, relative to the long-term average were observed in most parts of the country except for southeast England.
Text Box: There was a preponderance NW-ly and cyclonic weather types during March, and a notable Arctic outbreak coincided with the Easter weekend. The main anomaly centres were -15 mbar over the Baltic and +5mbar just north of the Azores, resulting in a northwesterly anomalous flow over the British Isles; the northerly component to the flow over the UK was the highest in March since 1970. Mean monthly sea-level pressure ranged from 6mbar below normal at Scilly and Valentia to 13mbar below in Shetland. The month started as it meant to go on, with a vigorous northwesterly airflow covering the UK. A strong ridge of high pressure crossed the country overnight 4th/5th, followed by a very disturbed westerly type which lasted until the 13th. The first four days were bright, blustery days with scattered showers of sleet, snow and hail although heavier snow fell in the Central Belt on the 3rd with 15cm at Wishaw. The 5th began fine a frosty with a minimum of -8.1°C at Loch Glascarnoch (Sutherland) and it stayed fine all day in southern districts, but it became very wet in the north and west, with 50mm of rain at Kinlochewe (Wester Ross). Very unsettled weather continued until the 13th with periods of heavy rain, especially over the western highlands, the Lake District and the Welsh hills; Tyndrum (Perthshire) collected 211mm between the 5th and 13th. It was very windy at times, particularly on the 10th when a depression deepened to 949 mbar as it tracked across southern Ireland, and there was a good deal of coastal flooding in Cornwall and Devon. Strongest gusts included 75kn at Alderney (Channel Is) and 70kn at Mumbles (near Swansea). It was temporarily very mild in the south on the 11th with a high of 15.3°C at Southampton. A depression developed in the southwest approaches on the 14th, thence travelling slowly across southern England on the 15th and 16th; the temperature climbed to 15.4°C at Gravesend (Kent) on the 15th before the rain set in, then most central and southern parts of England and Wales had 18 hours of continuous rain amounting to 25-45mm, and to 60mm at Raunds (Northants). At several places this was the heaviest March fall in a single day on record.
                                                                                                                                             
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE                             RAINFALL