March 2015 Summary

In Brief:
A fair amount of fine, sunny weather, specially in the first and third weeks.
Unsettled during the second and last weeks.
Temperatures and rain below average.

Temperature: [Minimum]:
The coldest night of the month was that of the 14th/15th when the temperature fell to 1.4 degs C.  Since 2004, apart from in 2012, there have always been colder nights than this in March.  The mildest night of the month was that of the 28th/29th, with a low of 10.5 degs C.
The average minimum for the month was 5.07 degs C, making March 2015 the second coldest for nights of the last 12.  The coldest itself was 2010 with an average of 4.94 degs C.
The temperature fell below 5 degs C 17 times in March 2015, the second most of the last 12, only beaten by 2010 with 18 times.

Temperature: [Maximum]:
The lowest daytime temperature of the month was 8.2 degs C on the 2nd.  The highest temperature for the month was 14.4 degs C, recorded on the 21st.   This was the lowest ever March maximum since at least 2004.  Previously this was 15.7 degs C in 2008.
The average maximum for the month was 11.71 degs C, which is the third lowest of the last 12 Marches.  The two Marches with lower average temperatures than this were 2006 [11.38] and 2013 [9.85]. 

Rainfall:
65 mm of rain fell during March 2015, making it the driest month since September 2014, and the driest March since 2012.  This compares with 109.9 mm in February 2015 and 98.6 mm in March 2014.
The wettest day itself was the 3rd, with 12.2 mm.  The only other day with more than 10 mm of rain was the 26th [10.8].   There was no measurable rain between the 14th and the 23rd.

There were 12 completely dry days in the month, and 14 with no measurable rain. In March 2013 there were 19 days with no measurable rain, but there was 119.4 mm of rain in total, not far off double this March's total.

Cumulatively to the end of March, 363.6 mm of rain has fallen during 2015.  This compares with 555.6 mm in the same period in 2014 [-34.56%].   However, despite seeing about a third less rain than in the same period last year, this January to March has still been the second wettest of the last seven January to Marches, which further illustrates how wet the beginning of 2014 was.

Thunder:
None this month.