Though March is usually, meteorologically speaking, the first month of spring this year it felt more like an extension of winter.
The mean temperature for March 2018 finished 6.3C, that’s 1.4C below the 1981-2010 average, the coldest for five years but still nearly 3C warmer than the exceptional March of 2013.
Some 61.5mm of precipitation fell, that’s 151 per cent% of average and the wettest for 10 years, pipping the wet March of 2016 by just 1.2mm. The 38th= wettest March since 1797.
Perhaps most notable in this region was the lack of sunshine. There was just 59.1hrs recorded, that’s just 54 per cent of the 1981-2010 average. The dullest March since 1984 and, more notably, the 5th dullest March back to 1881!
Though there were no notable night frosts, the coldest night fell to just -3.8C, the cold pattern was enough to create three new entries in the top 10 of coldest March days in Wanstead and further afield in the capital.
With 6 more days of ‘snow lying at 9am’ winter 2017-18, the snowfall season stretches from October to May, was boosted up to 20th place on my snow index.
Summary for March 2018
Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute) 6.1
Mean (min+max) 6.3
Mean Minimum 3.0
Mean Maximum 9.6
Minimum -3.8 day 01
Maximum 15.3 day 27
Highest Minimum 8.0 day 15
Lowest Maximum 0.5 day 01
Air frosts 5
Rainfall (mm):
Total for month 61.5
Wettest day 9.0 day 30
High rain rate 12.1 day 12
Rain days 20
Dry days 11
Wind (mph):
Highest Gust 24.4 day 08
Average Speed 3.2
Wind Run 2411.5 miles
Gale days 0
Pressure (mb):
Maximum 1032.3 day 20
Minimum 983.3 day 11
Days with snow falling 4
Days with snow lying at 0900 6
Total hours of sunshine 59.1
Wanstead Meteo 
In 2013 we celebrated my brother’s birthday on a canal boat in north Wales. We couldn’t believe the Mediterranean style weather and regretted not booking a longer break. The contrast with this March is stark, a canal boat trip last month would have been absolutely grim. Perhaps the moral of the story is not to plan ahead and take things as they come?
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Yes, weather in March last year was amazing. And completely identify with the canal boat – used to go a lot with my dad in the 80s, before they started charging ridiculous prices. I remember one year on the Norfolk Broads the boat keeper said: “The fridge is on the blink, not that you’d need one in this weather! Ha ha ha. The following year we all came back with sunburn….
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