This was a rather featureless month. A mix of anticyclonic and westerly weather types resulted overall in a westerly pressure gradient with mean sealevel pressure anomalies of 5–7hPa above normal. Mean monthly temperatures were of the order of 1 degC above normal, and sunshine totals varied around the normal. It was a dry month over much of eastern and southern Britain with rainfall anomalies typically around 60%. Some northwestern districts were wet, though, largely due to two incidents of copious rainfall around the 10th and the 30th. The latter event occurred on the boundary of a very warm airmass which brought the country's highest March temperatures since 1968 – when, just like this year, a notable cold spell followed a few days later.

Anticyclones were the dominant feature of the first week. Initially the highest pressure was to the east of Britain, then a new centre moved from Iceland into the country from the 3rd to the 5th, thence declining slowly and slipping away to the southwest by the 9th. For much of this period it was rather cold, fairly cloudy and dry. There were sunnier interludes, with 10.5h of sunshine at Aberdaron (northwest Wales) on the 1st, and where skies were clear sharp frosts resulted at night; Braemar (Aberdeenshire) recorded –7.6°C early on the 3rd and –8.5°C on the 6th. Fog and low cloud occasionally affected some districts, and the temperature only rose to 0.6°C at Dalwhinnie (Cairngorms) on the 3rd. There were also a few patches of rain, especially in the south on the 3rd as the first anticyclone gave way, and also gradually extending across northern districts from the 6th.

Atlantic frontal systems brought wet and windy weather to all districts late on the 9th and into the 10th, with 80mm of rain in 24h on Snowdonia and gusts of up to 75kn in northwest Wales on the night of the 10th/11th. Three blustery, showery days followed from the 11th to the 13th; there was often hail, and snow fell on northern hills, but there were also sunny interludes, whilst a longer spell of rain crossed from the west on the night of the 12th/13th. Further rain spread southeast across central and southern districts on the 14th. An anticyclone took up position to the west of Ireland from the 16th to the 20th, but weak fronts still came around its eastern flank to give patchy and mostly light rain or drizzle. Away from windward coasts, it was often warm in brighter intervals and on the 18th the temperature rose to 19.3°C at Grangemouth (Stirling) and 19.0°C at Edinburgh. There were still some night frosts though; on the 20th the temperature rose from –3.3°C to 17.6°C at Aboyne (Aberdeenshire).

During the 22nd and 23rd the anticyclone slipped away into central Europe, and fronts crossing from the Atlantic became more active again with bands of rain interspersed by sunshine and showers, and it was colder on the 26th and 27th with snow on northern hills. During the 28th and 29th, the continental anticyclone reasserted its influence over southern Britain, holding back a cold front over northwestern Britain where very moist air on its warm side led to excessive rainfall, especially over the hills. The notoriously wet Seathwaite (Cumbria) recorded 177mm on the 28th, and there was around 150mm in 48h in parts of the western Highlands of Scotland on the 29th and 30th. It was, though, increasingly sunny and warm further to the southeast, and in southeastern Britain on the 30th there was a daily temperature range of 22–24 degC from some slight overnight frost to an unseasonably warm afternoon. The temperature rose to 24.5°C at Kew Gardens, and it reached 23.9°C at Weybourne (Norfolk) on the 31st – ahead of cold air spreading southwards following another wet night in the northwest.

Bob Prichard

All the charts on these pages are © Crown Copyright, Met Office. Charts on this page are based on NCEP Re‐analysis data provided by the NOAA‐CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Data supplied by the Met Office: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk

Averages for UK data are for the period 1981–2010 and for the European data 1991–2015.

The assistance of the Met Office in producing themaps and tables is gratefully acknowledged.

doi:10.1002/wea.3987

这是一个毫无特色的月份。反气旋和西风天气类型的混合总体上导致了西风压力梯度，平均海平面压力异常比正常高5-7hPa。平均每月温度比正常高1摄氏度左右，日照总量在正常附近变化。英国东部和南部大部分地区都处于干旱月份，降雨量异常通常在60％左右。但是，西北一些地区还是很潮湿的，这主要是由于在10号和30号附近发生了两次大雨。后一个事件发生在一个非常温暖的气团的边界上，使该国自1968年以来达到了3月的最高气温。几天后，与今年一样，今年开始出现明显的寒潮。

反气旋是第一周的主要特征。最初，最高的压力是在英国东部，然后一个新的中心从第3位到第5位从冰岛搬到了该国，此后缓慢下降，并在第9位滑到了西南地区。在此期间的大部分时间里，天气相当寒冷，相当多云和干燥。1月1日，在Aberdaron（西北威尔士）有阳光充沛的间歇，晴天为10.5小时，夜晚晴空无霜。Braemar（阿伯丁郡）在3月初记录为–7.6°C，在6日记录为–8.5°C。偶尔有雾和低云影响某些地区，三月的达怀尼（Cairngorms）温度仅上升到0.6°C。也有几阵雨，尤其是在第三个反旋风降临时的南方，

大西洋的额叶系统在9月下旬至10日将潮湿多风的天气带到了所有地区，斯诺登尼亚地区24h降雨80毫米，10/11日晚上威尔士西北部阵风高达75kn。从11日到13日，经历了三场狂风骤雨，随后是阵雨；经常有冰雹，北部山丘上降雪，但也有晴朗的插曲，而在12/13日晚上，一阵长雨从西边吹来。14日，更多的雨水向东南传播，穿过中部和南部地区。从16日到20日，一架反气旋占领了爱尔兰西部的位置，但东部侧翼仍然薄弱，给人以零星的降雨或毛毛雨。远离上风海岸，它通常以更明亮的间隔变暖，并在18日温度升至19。格兰奇茅斯（斯特灵）为3°C，爱丁堡为19.0°C。但是仍然有一些夜霜。20日，阿博因（阿伯丁郡）的温度从–3.3°C升高到17.6°C。

在22日和23日，反旋风流滑入中欧，穿越大西洋的前线再次变得活跃起来，雨带间夹杂着阳光和阵雨，而26日和27日则偏冷，北部山丘降雪。在28日和29日，大陆反气旋再次影响了英国南部，使英国西北部的冷锋退缩，那里温暖的一侧非常潮湿的空气导致过多的降雨，尤其是在山丘上。臭名昭著的潮湿的Seathwaite（坎布里亚郡）在28日记录了177毫米，而在29日和30日，苏格兰西部高地的部分地区在48小时内记录了大约150毫米。不过，到了东南部，日照越来越热，在30日的英国东南部，每天的温度范围为22-24摄氏度，从夜间的轻微霜冻到异常温暖的下午。Kew Gardens的温度升至24.5°C，31日在Weybourne（诺福克）达到23.9°C –在西北部又一个潮湿的夜晚之后，冷空气向南扩散。

鲍勃·普里查德（Bob Prichard）

这些页面上的所有图表均为©Met Office官方版权。本页上的图表基于美国科罗拉多州博尔德市NOAA-CIRES气候诊断中心提供的NCEP重新分析数据。

大都会办公室提供的数据：http：//www.metoffice.gov.uk

英国数据的平均值为1981-2010年，欧洲数据为1991-2015。

感谢大都会办公室在制作地图和表格方面的协助。

doi：10.1002 / wea.3987