Mild and dry month with only three frosty nights
MARCH was a milder and drier month than normal but with huge temperature changes.
Afternoon temperatures averaged 12c which was 1.7c above normal in Mountsorrel with night time temperatures at 3.2c, about average for the time of year.
There were just three frosts recorded in Hinckley and Mountsorrel but Dave in Cosby recorded eight with his lowest temperature being -3.1c on the 21st of the month.
The mean temp was 7.7c at Mountsorrel with Dean Whittaker in Hinckley recording 7.9c, about 1c above the normal value at both stations.
It was a dry month too with 41mm being recorded in Hinckley with 43mm being logged at Mountsorrel which was 15% below normal.
Rain fell on just 9 days and only significantly on seven days. The wettest day the 16th accounted for 23mm at both locations or more than half the monthly total in a single day.
High pressure dominated the month with a 14 day completely dry spell from the 17th.
The high pressure did encourage the sun to shine however with 177 hours of bright sunshine recorded at Dave Muttons station in Cosby which is a huge 50% above normal making it the driest and sunniest March since 2012.
Many days were sunny with more 10 hours recorded on seven days with the sunniest day being logged on the 26th with 12 hours of sun being recorded.
The final week saw winds blow in from the South and they brought us some very warm air with Hinckley recording a max temperature of 19.4c on the 23rd a staggering 7c above normal.
During the last few days of the month however the high pressure changed its location to Iceland and this time arctic air swept southwards and whereby a few days before we were in shorts and tea shirts by the 30th winter coats were out again as the temperature plunged to just 6.2 c a huge 13c drop on the weather just 4 days before!
With the chill came the snow with the final day of the month seeing heavy snow falling which settled for a time and was our first settling snow since November in what was a very mild winter!
So March contained all four seasons this year as the changing winds brought us radically different weather but it was dry and mild for the majority of the time.
Lets see what April throws at us! Thanks to Dean Whittaker and Dave Mutton for the use of their data.
Enjoy your weekend!