I’ve put together a few top 10s of stats for Wanstead, St James’s Park and Heathrow for the month of March.
The month, the first of the meteorological spring can offer really contrasting weather; perishing cold and very pleasant warmth are both very possible, as the values show.
Probably most notable in the list is the cold March of 1962 which was the coldest of the 20th century and 11th coldest in a local list going back to 1797. March 2013 was also very cold. Strong winds from deep depressions often feature as does the odd blizzard.
Marches in the 1960s also appear to often start very cold and end very warm; the term ‘In like a lion, out like a lamb’ being very appropriate.
•Though this blog only covers extremes back to 1959, thanks to Met Office digitised data, I’ve unearthed records prior to this. Both W.A.L Marshall’s A Century of London Weather (covering 1841 to 1941) and J. H. Brazell’s London Weather (covering 1841 to 1964) confirm the coldest March day as the 13th in 1845 when 25F (-3.9C) was recorded at Greenwich.
The coldest March minimum was 4/5 in 1909 with 9F (-12.8C) at Epsom. Greenwich and Hampstead recorded 14F (-10C)
Some national UK March values according to TORRO
Hottest: 25C Wakefield, West Yorks – 29th 1929
Coldest: -22.8C Logie Coldstone, Grampian – 14th 1958
Wettest: 164.3mm Glen Etive, Highland – 26th 1968
Wanstead Meteo 
great stats.. you do a phenomenal job. Have you written a book yet? Simon
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks – actually though the stats only go back to 1959 (Met Office only offer digitised Excel sheets to that date) I’ve just added absolute min and max temps to 1841 for interest.
I’d like to write a book, an update of these two volumes perhaps, but it would take a phenomenal amount of time that I don’t really have. It’s in my mind though!
LikeLiked by 2 people