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

I’ve put together a few top 10s of stats for Wanstead, St James’s Park and Heathrow for the month of February.

Probably most notable is the cold February of 1991 which saw the deepest snowfall I can remember – days of snow saw the level depth past my knee in suburban London. February 1986 was also very cold but also very dry with little snow.

Februaries in the 1990s were also often warm with 19.7C being reached in Wanstead on 13th in 1998.

It is a shame that the Met Office only publishes easy to access daily data in Excel format back to 1959 as this obviously omits the classic snowy February of 1947 which is worth a blog on its own.

My winter forecast for the London area can be found here.

Some national UK February values according to TORRO

Hottest: 21.2C Kew Gardens – 26th 2019
Coldest: -27.2C Braemar – 11th 1895
Wettest: 196.6mm Ben Nevis, Highland – 6th 1894

I’ve put together a few top 10s of stats for Wanstead, St James’s Park and Heathrow for the month of January.

Probably most notable is just how impressive the depth of cold was during the cold spell of 1987. When considering St James’s Park the temperature on the 12th never rose above -6C: nearly 4C colder than any January day in 1963, the coldest winter in modern times.

My winter forecast for the London area can be found here.

Some national UK January values according to TORRO

Hottest: 18.3C Aber, Gwynedd – 27th 1958
Coldest: -27.2C Braemar, Grampian – 10th 1982
Wettest: 238.4mm Loch Sloy main adit Strathclyde – 17th 1974

Climatology

Here’s a couple of graphs showing the maxima, minima and rainfall. Notice the spike  which reflects the singularity which has an 84 per cent probability.