[Dave W]

March 2012 -notable weather events day by day

The 1^st sawa very foggy start in places especially central England as high pressure layover the south and a cold front moved SE into Scotland its progress slowed by a small low on it . However parts of the south were very sunny and even warm,Herstmonceux (East Sussex) reaching 16.7C under 9 hours of sunshine. On the 4th a complex wave low developed in the Channel and ran east slowly bringing a lot of rain with it -up to 25mm in places- which turned to snow from as far north as Cumbria south almost to the south coast as the winds went northerly to its west and cold air was brought down from above. There were reports of local accumulations in places. The 5th saw a low of -4.9C at Braemar in the Highlands.

A quiet week followed but on the 12^th, the warmest day so far of the year saw 18.1C at Herstmonceux in East Sussex. It was very localised warmth though, few otherstations reached within 3C of this figure as they struggled to lose thick overnight fog and low cloud. In some places it was very sunny though,Leeming seeing over 10 hours . The 15th sawa very foggy start for many and it was cold too with a ground & air frost in places, Ravensworth ( N Yorks) fell to -4.2C in fact. It stayed dull and misty in places leading to rather low maxes but where it did brighten up it became warm, locally very warm away from the coasts. Gravesend (Kent) reached 19.0C, the warmest temperature so far this year. On the 18^th under high pressure it was a cold night with a widespread frost & -8.5C was recorded at Braemar in the Highlands, the coldest temperature reported in March. An occluded front moved south across the east Midlands & eastern UK overnight giving some sleet & snow in places as it did so with a patchy covering over hills for a short time. On the 19^th an early widespread frost developed as high pressure pushed in from the west overnight with -5.7C at Chesham (Bucks) unofficially and -4.5C at Benson (Oxon) but the NW became cloudier with some drizzly rain under a rather moist SW'ly flow and in fact it became quite wet in Western Scotland with 31mm by 2100 at Kinlochewe.

From the 22^nd for a week there was a notably warm, dry & settled spell for late March. March 22^nd saw high pressure dominating and it was generally a rather warm day after a chilly night, -4C atRavensworth (N Yorks) but it was very sunny in places, Leuchars seeing 11.1hours. There was a range of 20C at Santon Downham (Norfolk) . Otterbourne(Hants) reached 20.1C the first official 20C of this year and the highesttemperature ever recorded on this date, the previous record of 20.0C having been set in 1918. March 23rd wasanother warm sunny day for many after early mist and fog cleared under highpressure; the first 70F (21C) of the year was recorded at Charlwood (Surrey)near Gatwick. The 24th remained settled but mist and fog in central parts took a long time to clear. Many places in thesouth & west saw over 20C reached eventually (even Bude in Cornwallreaching above 20C) but the 24th's all time date record from 1918 was equalledas well with 22.2C at Portmadog in NW Wales. The 25th became warm again away from east & SE coasts where itstayed chilly in mist & fog all day. Fyvie Castle (Aberdeenshire) reached22.8C, setting a new date record for the 25th March and a new record for all ofScotland for the highest temperature officially recorded in March. However as the26th March saw mainly clear skiesafter a chilly night and early mist cleared, Ravensworth (N Yorks) fell -3.3C but Scotland broke its March maximum temperature record again with a maximumtemperature of 23.2C recorded at Cromdale in Moray which was also a daterecord. There were 12.1 hours of sunshine at Morecambe.

On March 27th with high pressure dominating still there was another chilly night, Altnaharra fell to -3.6C & then it became very warm & sunny for many parts, especially in Scotland where Aboyne broke the Scottish March record for the third day running by recording 23.6C. This was also the daily Uk record as well and the highest temperature reported in March 2012 .Aberporth saw as much as 12.2 hours of sunshine also. The 28th was another warm day in the south under high pressure but a cooler PM airflow started to work in from the north pulling temperature down notably from recent high values. Katesbridge (Co Down) fell to -3.0C overnight under clear skies. Nevertheless St James Park (Central London) and Heathrow reached 22.8C, just short of the all time daily record with 12.1 hours of sunshine at Aberporth again on the west Wales coast. By the 29th colder air flowed down from the NW with some rain at times in the far north but under the influence of high pressure much of the south stayed warmer & quite sunny, Bristol Filton saw 11.7 hours of sunshine, Solent (Hants) was warmest today seeing 22.0C. On the 30th despite thecooler flow from the NW it still managed to reach 19.7 °C at Durham (N Yorks). The 31st was rather dull and cooler everywhere though and there was even some early snow reported in the far northern Isles.

[HSEA2]

Individual monthly site records newly established during this month (to the best of my knowledge)

Fair Isle: 13.9c (old record 10.9c, since 1951) This also exceeds the sites april record
Kirkwall: 18.9c (old record 17.8c, since 1951) This also exceeds the sites april record.
Wick: 19.9c (old record 17.3c, since 1901)
Kinlochewe: 22.1c (old record 20.6c, since 1960)
Kinloss: 21.7c (old record 18.2c, since 1960)
Braemar: 22.0c (old record 20.6c, since 1880)
Aberdeen - Dyce: 21.6c (old record 20.4c, since 1960)
Leuchars: 21.4c (old record 20.9c, since 1960)
Eskdalemuir: 20.1c (old record 19.4c, since 1911)
Durham: 21.7c (equalled old record of 21.7c recorded in 1929,53 and 65, records since 1850)
Leeming: 21.2c (old record 20.9c, since 1960)
Heathrow: 22.8c (old record 22.3, since 1948)
Boscombe Down: 21.3c (old record 20.6, since 1960)

Other places like Keswick, Carlisle, Kew may have broken their monthly records too, but i dont have long term data to hand, although Stirlings weather of Britain gives a highest march value of 21.7c at Kew between 1870-1995, so safe to say if Kew got near Heathrow, it got a record too.