The UK in March
Mike Hulme on last month’s weather
DAYTIME TEMPERATURES
March was a cool month in
the UK, the only exceptions being the Channel Islands and the extreme
southwest. Guernsey was 2C warmer than
usual, whereas Birmingham was about 2C colder than average. Although Scotland was much drier and sunnier
than the rest of the country (see below), daytime temperatures were mostly just
as cold – typically around 1C below normal.
The coldest day of the month was the 1st, after which a mild
spell occurred from the 7th to the 11th. The warmest day of the month was the 7th
March with a nationwide average daytime temperature of 12.4C. Over the last 15 years, only March 1996 has
been colder than March 2001.
RAINFALL
It is no surprise that March
was another wet month in the UK – although this time the far northwest escaped
with below average rainfall. Tiree
recorded a miserly 22mm during March (only 23 per cent of normal), compared to
over 200mm in Guernsey. Northern
Ireland, the western Isles and southwest Scotland were also drier than
average. In contrast, central and
southern England recorded between two and three times the average March
rainfall. Rainfall was quite evenly
distributed throughout the month, the driest spell being the first six days and
the wettest between the 17th and 24th. For the country as a whole, rainfall in
March was 63 per cent above average, the wettest March since 1988. The period from April 2000 to March 2001 has
been the wettest 12 month period in England and Wales recorded in 235 years of
rainfall measurement.
SUNSHINE
Sunshine anomalies were the
exact opposite of those for rainfall – central and southern England being
cloudier than usual and most of the rest of the country sunnier. Tiree was an amazingly sunny place to be
during March with nearly six hours of bright sunshine per day – nearly twice
its March average. In contrast,
Lowestoft could manage only about 2.5 hours sunshine per day. The period 22nd to 27th
March barely recorded one hour of sunshine per day for the UK as a whole.
Dr Mike Hulme is a Director
of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, at UEA
(more details at website at
www.tyndall.ac.uk)
March 2001: Cloudy and wet in the south, cool everywhere
Daytime Temperature: 0.9C below average; Rainfall: 63% above average; Sunshine: 1% below average.
[all average figures are
based on the 1951-80 average]
Mean monthly extremes:
Warmest Guernsey 12.9C
Sunniest Tiree 182 hours sun
Wettest Guernsey 224mm
Coldest Lerwick 4.9C
Cloudiest Exmouth 61 hours sun
Driest Tiree 22mm