[BUTTERFLY]

http://www.metoffice...k/observations/ shows some interesting contrasts at 1300 hours:

SHETLAND/ORKNEY: Kirkwall (Orkney) 15.3 deg. C., Baltasound and Lerwick, both Shetland, 8.1 deg. C. and 6.4 deg. C. respectively. these last 2 are the only Scottish stations below 12 deg. C.; even the high altitude sites of Glen Ogle and Eskdalemuir are at 13.5 deg. C. and 18.3 deg. C. respectively.

WALES: The normally mild Mumbless Head is the lowest at 12.4 deg. C., with the high level Capel Curig at 18.6 deg. C. second only to Valley at 18.8 deg. C.

ENGLAND: Many sites on the east are well below 10 deg. C., but temperatures rise considerably as you move inland; examples are in Yorkshire/Humberside, Bridlington 6.2 deg. C., Fylingdales 15.0 deg. C.; East Midlands, Wainfleet 6.5 deg. C., Donna Nook 6.6 deg. C., Holbeach 7.6 deg. C., Coningsby 9.1 deg. C., Nottingham Watnall 13.9 deg. C.. East of England: Bedford 5.0 deg. C., Shoeburyness 6.2 deg. C., all of 5 other stations below 10 deg. C. except Marham 11.7 deg. C. S.W. England: St. Mary;s (Scilly)12.0 deg. C., Isle of Portland 12.1 deg. C., Chivenor 17.5 deg. C. Hurn Airport 17.2 deg. C. London & S.E. England: Manston 5.7 deg. C., Langdon Bay 7.6 deg. C., Gravesend 8.4 deg. C., Kenley 9.8 deg. C., all other sites between 11.9 deg. C. (St. Catherine's Point) and 15.2 deg. C. (Benson).

By 1400 Magilligan, Northern Ireland, was up to 19.3 deg. C. exceeding yesterday's maximum of 19.1 deg. C. at Derrylin Cornahoule, Co. Fermanagh, but still 2.4 deg. C. off the Northern Ireland record of 21.7 deg. C. in March 1965; Aboyne was up to 21.4 deg. C., which I think is withon 0.8 deg. C. of the Scottish March record. Only Aberdeen Dyce (20.9 deg. C.) and Altnaharra (20.0 deg. C.) are 20 deg. C. or over, although an hour earlier Keswick in Cumbria, which has dropped to 19.5 deg. C., also exceeded 20 deg. C. Trawscoed in Wales is now the warmest at 19.5 deg. C.

There were mainly small rises mainly of less than a degree C. between 1300 and 1400 e.g. in the Northern Isles, Lerwick is still 6.4 deg. C., Baltasound has risen slightly to 9.4 deg. C. and Kirkwall dropped slightly to 15.1 deg. C.; in Yorkshire/Humberside, Bridlington is 6.5 deg. C. and Fylingdales 15.9 deg. C.; Donna Nook is now the lowest in East Midlands at 7.0 deg. C. while Watnall is still the warmest at 14.6 deg. C. In Eastern England, Bedford has risen to 7.5 deg. C. and the coldest are Shoeburyness and Weybourne at 6.4 deg. C., while Marham is 13.0 deg. C.; in SW England, St. Marys has dropped to 11.9 deg. C. and Chivenor is now at 18.4 deg. C. while in London & S.E. England, Manston is the lowest (also the lowest in the British Isles at the moment, although it is more noted for high maxima at times) at 5.9 deg. C., Langdon Bay (8.4 deg. C.) and Gravesend (9.9 deg. C.) also below 10 deg. C., with Brize Norton and Odiham at 15.8 deg. C. just above Benson at 15.7 deg. C.

http://www.met.ie/latest/reports.asp is showing 20 deg. C. at 1500 hours at Casement Airport, Co. Dublin, and Finner Camp in Co. Donegal.

It reached 22.2 deg. C. yesterday (24th) at Porthmadoc in Wales, a joint date record for 24th March with 1918 in Nottinghamshire, I believe (see http://www.ukweather...-exeter-ap-06c/). It looks possible that this will be exceeded today, most likely in Scotland; the date record for 25th is 21.7 deg. C. (in 1953), so the temperature OF 21.4 deg. C. at Aboyne at 1400 hours has only to increase by another 0.3 deg. C. to equal this (see http://www.ukweather...-for-each-date/). The fact that the clocks went forward by an hour early this morning makes it mathematiclly slightly more likely that this will happen than if 25th March this year had been a Saturday. It also seems possible that the Scottish March record of 22.2 deg. C. (does anyone know what year this was?) might be equalled or exceeded.

[PJB]

14Z 22.2C Fyvie Castle

[Richie]

Just like the last few days, it's being wall to wall sunshine here, 0/8 skies, but a maximum screen temp of just 9.6c at 1145 UTC.

Currently (1445 UTC) its 8.8c and falling at -0.2c/hr.

[Dave K]

Quote

We have a new record maximum temperature for March in Scotland! 22.3C recorded at Fyvie Castle (Aberdeenshire) at 3pm today ^SM

http://twitter.com/#!/metoffice

[BUTTERFLY]

Mumbless Head above should of course be Mumbles Head.

At 1500 (see http://www.metoffice...k/observations/) Magilligan at 19.5 deg. C. is just ahead of Castlederg at 19.4 deg. C, with St. Angelo 3rd warmest in Northern Ireland at 19.1 deg. C.; Aboyne has dropped to 21.3 deg. C. but Kinloss (21.1 deg. C.), Altnaharra (20.8 deg. C.), Aberdeen Dyce (20.6 deg. C.), Aviemore (20.4 deg. C.) are all at or above 20 deg. C. Aberporth at 19.5 deg. C. is the warmest in Wales, with Carlisle (19.4 deg. C.) and Keswick (19.3 deg. C.) the warmest in England; Manston (6.0 deg. C.) is well below the next coldest in London & S.E. England (Langdon Bay 10.4 deg. C.) and the only other stations now below 10 deg. C. are Weybourne, Shoeburyness and Bedford in Eastern England (6.2 deg. C. 6.6 deg. C. and 9.9 deg. C. respectively), Donna Nook (7.2 deg. C.), Wainfleet (7.3 deg. C.) and Holbeach (7.3 deg. C.) in East Midlands, Bridlington (6.5 deg. C.) and Baltasound and Lerwick in the Shetlands (9.5 deg. C. and 6.6 deg. C. respectively). Glen Ogle is 15.6 deg. C. and Eskdalemuir 18.7 deg. C.; I suspect there have been summer months when these last 2 sites did not record such a high temperature. At Valentia, Co. Kerry, the highest temperature recorded in March 2011 of 18.6 deg. C. on 24th, exceeded that of August, 18.3 deg. C. on 31st, as well as May (18.4 deg. C. on 1st) and was equal to that of July (18.6 deg. C. on 11th). http://www.met.ie/latest/reports.asp currently shows the temperature there as 19 deg. C., although all temperatures are given to nearest 1 deg. C.

[Dave K]

Quote

Met Office ‏ @metoffice

• Close

Today’s highest temperature is 22.8C at Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire. A new record maximum temperature for March in Scotland! ^SM


http://twitter.com/#!/metoffice

[BUTTERFLY]

I missed the mention of the new Scottish March record of 22.3 deg. C. at Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, as it took quite a while to prepare the posts above as I was doing other things at the time as well as checking figures from other websites.

I suppose it is not much consolation for Scotland after getting the wooden spoon in the Six Nations Rugby Championship that they have recorded the highest temperature in the British Isles this year, as far as we know (although as it is only 0.1 deg. C. above the 22.2 deg. C. Porthmadoc in Wales on 24th, it is possible another higher temperature for that day in Wales may presently come to light). It seems distinctly possible that this may stand to the end of the month, possibly to May if April is not particularly warm. Although it would be inconceivable that higher temperatures would not be recorded somewhere in Britain later, it is not totally unknown, though rare, for the highest temperature of the year in Britain to be recorded, either outright or jointly, in Scotland; from 1900 onwards to 2011, this has occurred outright in 5 years and jointly in 3 years, totalling 8 years out of 112, as follows (see http://www.personal....ottest_days.htm):

1907 30.0 Lairg 16 July

1908 32.8 Dumfries 2 July

1958 29.4 Paisley 4, 5 July; Leicester 8 July

1963 28.9 Littlehampton 22 July; Ceinws (Powys.) 29 July; Wisley, Gordon Castle (Gramp.) 30 July

1966 28.9 Southampton 9 June; Perth, Crossmyloof (Strathclyde) 21 July; Camden Square (20 August)

1972 29.4 Perth 20 July

1977 30.0 Paisley, Glenlee (D. & G.) 7 July; Onich (Highland) 11 July

1978 28.8 Poolewe (Highland) 4 June


Although on average this is 1 year in 14, it has not happened since 1978 (34 years ago) so is somewhat overdue, although 49 years went by from 1909 to 1957 without such an occuurence. As one might expect, this phenomenon only occurs in poor to mediocre summers, at least with respect to the South of England, although 1977 was a reasonable summer in Scotland and Northern Ireland (it had one of the highest totals for sunshine from May to August in the latter region).

This is not meant to be a prediction of the summer weather for 2012, although I still have a gut feeling that it won't be a scorching summer generally (with some exceptions such as 1976 and 2006, and to some extent 1984, the best summers in the last 125 years have been in odd numbered years, and as far as I know have seldom if ever been preceeded by exceptionally high temperatures in March, although occasionally in April as in 1949 and 2003). Perhaps though unlike the last few summers, the north-west may come off better than the south-east; certainly this would be the case if the weather was similar to today. This should be a win-win situation all round - after all much of eastern and central England is crying out for rain while here in the north-west we can I think withstand some weeks of warm dry weather, even if we are lucky enough to get it.

[Andy Mayhew]

'Cooler' here today with a max of 'just' 20.2c in my garden ....

[00ctober]

20.2C here currently which is also the max (so far). New March record beating 19.3C recorded in 2005 and yesterday, records from 2001. Absolutely stunning day with wall to wall sunshine and the sky is much bluer than yesterday.

[Uskys]

Thanks for your comments & research butterfly

16.9°C max here, 1.1°C down on yesterday.

[OCEANSTORM]

Colin Ure, on 25 March 2012 - 13:18, said:

Before today my 6 year maximum March temperature was 15.2C - this has been completely smashed - currently sitting at 19.5C and still climbing slowly - hoping for 20C by the end of the day !

Early morning mist has been replaced with wall to wall blue skies and very light winds - just hoping this is not our summer.

My thoughts exactly Colin! Its a fantastic day here, sitting at 17.9C at the moment (17:25), wondering if its going to hit 18C. Just enjoyed a bbq - in MARCH!!! crazy lol.

[Dave W]

Huge temp differences today..nearly 23C reached in Scotland but 5C at Manston in Kent..

[BUTTERFLY]

http://www.metoffice...k/observations/ gives Castlederg as 20.0 deg. C. and 19.9 deg. at Magilligan at 1500 hours; it is of course possible that one or both of these may have been slightly warmer, either before or after 1500 hours. This is certainly within 2 deg. C. of the Northern Ireland March record of 21.7 deg. C. at Armagh Observatory in March 1965, just as the 16.3 deg. C. at Killowen, Co. Down, in late February 2012 was within 2 deg. C. of the Northern Ireland February record of 17.8 deg. C. at Bryansford, Co. Down, on 13th February 1998. I do not know of any other years apart from 1965 and 2012 when 20 deg. C. was reached in Northern Ireland, although it may have happened, but am reasonably sure that today was the warmest March day here since 1965.

http://www.met.ie/latest/reports.asp at 1600 hours shows Ballyhaise, Co. Cavan, as well as Malin Head, Co. Donegal, at 20 deg. C., and with Finner Camp, Co. Donegal, Casement, Co. Dublin, Claremorris, Co. Mayo, and Shannon Airport, Co. Clare, all at 19 deg. C. (note that these are all to the nearest 1 deg. C.). Cork Airport and Sherkin Island, both Co. Cork, were 13 deg. C. with haze and mist respectively, and Roche's Point, also Co. Cork, 14 deg. C. also with mist. 13 deg. C. however is still substantially above average for April, never mind March. Whether it will turn out that somewhere exceeded the 20.7 deg. C. rercorded at Valentia, Co. Kerry, on 19th March 2005 remains to be seen.

The high temperatures recorded in 2 of the early months of 2012 are reminiscent of 1998, when the Irish January rrecord (also higher than the British record of 18.3 deg. C.) of 18.5 deg. C. was recorded at Glasnevin, Dublin, on 10th January (see http://www.met.ie/cl...me_maxtemps.pdf) and the Northern Ireland February record of 17.8 deg. C. at Bryansford, Co. Down, on 13th February; this is also not a good omen for the summer, which was rather dull wet and coolish, although the following 2 summers were good. It is perhaps difficult to define a good summer, although admittedly one can do so with respect to temperature, rainfall or sunshine levels, or use a "Summer Index". Inevitably, although most of us can probably agree which summers were very good and which were very bad (though someone who made their living selling umbrellas and anoraks, etc, would probably have a different perspective!) it is the in between summers which might give difficulty. To me, a summer with abundant sunshine, or at least no long dull periods, even if the temperatures and rainfall were near normal, could be quite acceptable; after all the rainfall could be normal because of a very wet week or 10 days interspersed with long dry spells, or due to a few very wet days or a lot of rain falling at night. My memory of 1984 is that from late April right through to mid-September the weather was fairly good most of the time, and there were few if any wet weekends; I was away on holiday in France and Spain for about 3 weeks in June but from looking at the statistics, it was probably reasonable enough when I was away. 1975 was also fairly similar, both having sme high temperatures in late April and a dry and very sunny May, although the weather broke somewhat earlier in September which was fairly wet. Neither 1975 or 1984 were as hot as the summers which respecively followed (1976) or preceeded them (1983) but in these cases and also NI's hottest summer of all, 1995, as well as 2006, the really good weather only lasted about 8 weeks, from about mid or late June to mid or late August (1976 to late August, 1983 and also 1995, to about mid-August; 2006 was basically early June to late July, followed by a disappointing August but a very warm September). 1989 was quite warm and sunny from May to July.

[Dave W]

Eglinton was reporting 21C for some hours earlier

[BUTTERFLY]

http://www.weatherca...bsid/99010.html gives a temperature of 22.5 deg. C. at 1600 hours at Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, today, although to my eyes the graph of the temperature is a little bit higher than this as it seems to be more than a quarter of the distance between 22 and 24 deg. C. Either way, it seems that the Scottish March record has been broken.

[Lightning Hunter]

Maximum of 18.1°C here today.

[Dave W]

The graphs never correspond exactly to the temps.. we know 22.8C was the max This makes 3 days so far in this period when the UK daily record's been equalled or broken

[Ian Williams]

Just dowmloaded my data logger from my Stevenson Screen for the last few days, (living with G/F in Plymouth) my station in St Germans has beaten the previous highest March maximum which was 17.6C, yesterday with a max of 19.0C and beaten again today with 19.2C. My records for St Germans goes back to January 4th 1996

[Wiseacre]

Butterfly, according to a note on the MetO site, the highest temp today in N Ireland at their stations was 20.9*C at Ballykelly.

[HSEA2]

Looks like a chilly night in the offing here, down to 5.5c already. Max: 15.3c