March 2014 Summary

In Brief:
Unsettled with rain or showers for the first week and the last ten days.  Dry and fine in between.  Mostly mild, but a few chilly nights.

Temperature [Minimum]:
The coldest night of the month was that of the 23rd/24th with 0.3 degs C, which was the lowest temperature recorded since April 2013. The temperature only fell to 14.6 degs C on the night of the 6th/7th, the highest ever March night at this location.  Previously this was 13.4 degs C in 2013.
The average minimum was 7.0 degs C, making March 2014 the coldest month for nights since April 2013. It was the second highest night-time average for the month of March though, beaten only by 7.98 degs C in 2012.

The temperature fell below 5 degs C seven times during March 2014. This was the most since April 2013, but the second lowest for March.  It happened only three times in 2012.

Temperature [Maximum]:
Maximum temperatures in March 2014 ranged from 8.1 degs C on the 27th, the coldest day since April 2013, to 16.6 degs C on the 7th.  This gave an average for the month of 13.12 degs C, making March 2014 the coldest of any month since March 2013, but the third warmest March since 2004.

Rainfall:
98.6 mm of rain fell during March 2014, making it the driest month since September 2013.  This total was just under half of the 202.4 mm which fell in February 2014.  Although it was a dry month by recent standards, it was also the second wettest March of the last six.  March 2013 was the wettest with 119.4 mm.
The wettest day of March 2014 was the 24th with 15.6 mm.  Other days with more than 10mm of rain were the 2nd [14.2], 27th [12.3], and 25th [10.3].
No measurable rain fell from the 8th to the 19th.  This 12 day dry spell followed an 86 day period from 12th December 2013 to 7th March 2014, when there were just 4 completely dry days!

There were 11 completely dry days and 13 with no measurable rain during March 2014, the most in any month since September 2013.  Conversely, these were the lowest for any March since at least 2008.

Cumulatively in 2014, 555.6 mm of rain has fallen until 31st March, which compares with 322.3 mm during the same period in 2013 [+72.4%], and 141.4 mm in 2012 [+292.9%]!

Thunder:
Thunder was heard on the 27th.