Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

Daily Weather Observations - March 2006

GRAPHS & CHARTS

It was a cold and dry March in Royston, whilst sunshine was about average.

After the second warmest October (2005) since at least 1972 in Royston all subsequent months have experienced below average temperatures, particularly March 2006. However, a very mild last week of the month mitigated against a record cold month and in the event it was only the coldest March since 1996, with a mean temperature 1.6°C below average.

The mean daily maximum temperature in March was 8.9°C, which is 1.5°C below the 30 Year (1976/2005) average, whilst the mean night minimum temperature was 1.6°C below average at 1.9°C. The highest and lowest temperatures in the month were 16.5°C and –4.3°C on 30^th and 3^rd respectively. In contrast, the day maximum temperature on 16^th reached only 3.1°C, making it the coldest March day since 17^th March 2001 (maximum temperature 2.8°C), but on the night of 26^th/27^th the minimum temperature was as high as 11.2°C.

Totals of 13 air frosts and 18 ground frosts were recorded in March, the highest figures for these elements since 1987 (although in March 1995 the ground frosts total also reached 18). The lowest grass minimum temperature in March was –8.5°C on 3^rd. Air frost duration in March was 112.8 hours.

The mean earth temperature at 30 cms depth as measured at 0900 GMT daily was 5.1°C, with a maximum value of 9.5°C on 31^st and a minimum value of 2.5°C on both 5^th and 6^th.

Water supply problems remained a hot topic in the south-east of the country with yet another drier than average month. Total rainfall in Royston was 33.2 millimetres, which is 78% of the 1971/2000 average, and March followed the second consecutive drier than average Winter, at which time of the year the underground aquifers should be recharging at the highest rate. It was also the 5^th successive drier than average March.

The wettest day in March was 7^th with a rather modest 6.5 millimetres rainfall. The number of "rain days" (0.2 millimetres or more) in the month was 12, with rainfall equalling or exceeding 1.0 millimetre on 10 of these days. Rainfall duration was 30.3 hours for the whole month. Although snow fell on 6 days (2^nd, 5^th, 6^th, 14^th, 16^th and 17^th) in March snow can hardly be said to be a feature of the month with most of these days experiencing only minimal amounts of snow, and the only snow cover of the month (ground more than half covered with snow at 0900 GMT) was of negligible depth (on 6^th). Hail was observed to fall on 2 days (2^nd and 14^th).

The first 6 days of March were exceptionally sunny, the sunshine total for this period being 47.4 hours. This was achieved despite persistent low pressure (until 5^th) when cloudier weather may have been expected. Thereafter sunshine struggled at times but in the final analysis the month’s total of 112.4 hours was 5% above the 1971/2000 average.

The sunniest day of the month was 23^rd with 10.2 hours sunshine. The number of completely sunless days in March was 5.

March was a windier month than both January and February but the mean wind speed of 3.7 mph throughout the month was still a relatively low value. The highest daily (00/00 GMT) mean wind speed in March was 12.1 mph on 28^th and the lowest daily mean wind speed was 0.0 mph (to nearest 1 decimal place) on 3^rd.

The analysis of wind directions as observed at 0900 GMT daily gives the following results: NORTH 0 days, NE 9, E 0, SE 4, S 3, SW 8, W 4, NW 2, and CALM 1.

The mean MSL air pressure in March was 1008.6 mB, which is 7 mB below the 30 Year (1976/2005) mean. The highest and lowest air pressure values recorded in March were 1031 mB and 989 mB on 12^th and 24^th respectively.

The mean relative humidity in March was 81.4%, with highest and lowest daily (00/00 GMT) mean values of 98.2% and 63.3% on 8^th and 13^th respectively. The absolute lowest relative humidity reading in March was 33% at 1510 GMT on 5^th.

Fog (visibility < 1000 metres) was observed at the 0900 GMT observation hour on only 1 day (3^rd) in March, and on this occasion visibility fell below the 200 metres threshold.

Richard Barker

Richard Barker

Met. Observer, Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

6^th April 2006

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