The weather observations from the Met Office reveal March ended up being a mild, wet, but sunny month - relative to average -for most of us. The mean temperatures were between 1.0 and 1.5C above average, rainfall was close to 150% of average, and blue sky levels were 110-120% of average, but around 90% across Northern Ireland.
The wet flavour to the month was in contrast to January and February, which were both drier than the long term average. The map above (from Prescient Weather Ltd) shows wind speeds were above average (purple colour) over most of Europe.
Looking ahead to April and our weather forecasting models indicate such a huge variety of weather to come for the UK and Ireland. The first days of the month will be colder than normal with plenty of showers, these falling as rain and sleet with localised thunderstorms, and over the higher ground there is likely to be spells of snow, including some heavy snowfalls across the mountains of Scotland and Wales. After dark, temperatures will fall to sub zero in many areas, giving the first frosts for a while.
As we head to the weekend of 6-7 April, warmer air will arrive from the east, with Sunday's temperatures up to 16 Celsius in parts of southern England. Night time temperatures will also recover, with the frost risk much diminished.
Then we'll find a large area of high pressure developing across Scandinavia and this will bring slightly colder air in from the east again. So for the period of 8-13 April, much of northern UK will become drier than average, notably in western Scotland. Some wet days are still possible in the far south of the UK but most of the very wet weather will remain further south and west across Portugal and out in the nearby Atlantic. Despite the mostly drier weather, we could still have large amounts of cloud coming in from the east, but western Scotland looks favoured for some long sunny spells.
For the middle and end of the month, another change is likely, with most places seeing plenty of April showers, although temperatures will revert back to near average levels.
So all in all, a typical Spring month to look forward to, with plenty of weather changes to boot! We'll be back in a few weeks time to look at the prospects for early Summer.
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