March 2012

Spectacular Triassic sandstone cliffs and sea stacks at the western end of Jacob's Ladder Beach, Sidmouth on a warm and sunny March day.
Spectacular Triassic sandstone cliffs and sea stacks at the western end of Jacob's Ladder Beach, Sidmouth on a warm and sunny March day
Summary for  March 2012
Mean Max: 14.1ºC (+3.5ºC)
Mean Min: 4.5ºC (+0.9ºC)
Mean: 9.3ºC (+2.2ºC)
Mean (integrated): 8.6ºC  
     
High Max: 21.6ºC 29th
Low Max: 8.2ºC 13th
High Min: 10.1ºC 22nd 
Low Min: -1.4ºC 6th
Mean Grass Min: 1.9ºC  
Grass Min: -3.9ºC 6th
     
Rain Total (gauge): 0.0 mm (0%)
Rain Total (tipping bucket): 14.4 mm (22%)
Rain Days >0.2 mm: 4 Days  
Rain Days >1.0 mm: 2 Days  
Max 24 hrs: 10.4 mm 4th
Days without any rain: 27  
     
Air Frost: 3 Days  
Ground Frost: 6 Days  
Snow Falling: 0 Days  
Snow (50%) @ 9am: 0 Days  
Thunder Heard: 0 Days  
Hail <5 mm: 0 Days  
Hail >5 mm: 0 Days  
Fog @ 9am: 5 Days  
     
Total Monthly Sunshine: 189.5 Hours (126%)
Most Sunshine in a Day: 11.9 Hours 29th
Average Daily Sunshine: 6.1 Hours  
Sunless Days: 7 Days  
Cloudless Days: 8 Days  
Total Possible Sunshine: 370 Hours  
Percentage of Total Sun: 51%  
Maximum UV Index: 4.6 27th @ 13:15
     
Mean Soil Temp @ 30 cm:    
Min Soil Temp @ 30 cm:    
Max Soil Temp @ 30 cm:    
Mean Soil Temp @ 100 cm:    
Min Soil Temp @ 100 cm:    
Max Soil Temp @ 100 cm:    
     
Mean 10 Min Wind >39 mph: 0.00 Days  
N: 10.42 Days  
NE: 0.88 Days  
E: 3.08 Days  
SE: 1.92 Days  
S: 5.67 Days  
SW: 2.18 Days  
W: 0.40 Days  
NW: 5.67 Days  
Calm: 0.78 Days  
Wind Chill Low: -3.0ºC 19th
Mean Wind: 2.7 mph  
Max Gust: 26 mph 4th
  31.00 Days  
Mean Cloud Cover: 66%  
Mean RH @ 9am: 90%  
Rain Duration >0.1mm/hour: 11.8 Hours  
Frost Duration: 15.3 Hours  
Max Frost Duration in a Day: 6.0 Hours 6th
     
Mean Sea Temperature: 9.5ºC (+0.8ºC)
Normal for Month: 8.7ºC  
Max Sea Temperature: 11.6ºC 28th
Min Sea Temperature: 8.4ºC 2nd 
     
Mean Pressure @ 9am: 1027.9 hPa (+13.4 hPa)
Mean Pressure: 1027.5 hPa (+13.0 hPa)
Max Pressure: 1039.3 hPa 11th
Min Pressure: 1009.9 hPa 17th
   
Radiation Daily Mean 11.7 MJ/m²  
Max Daily Value 20.3 MJ/m² 29th
Min Daily Value 2.9 MJ/m² 16th
Number of Days with Data 31 Days  
1-Hour Maximum 803 W/m² 21st
Starting Time of the Hour   13:00
     
Max Dewpoint: 11.5ºC 12th
Min Dewpoint: -2.5ºC 6th
Mean Dewpoint: 5.4ºC  
     
Max Humidity: 99% 2nd 
Min Humidity: 29% 29th
Mean Humidity: 80% (-1)

 

A sunny, warm and very dry month.

This month started fine and sunny but became unsettled from the 4th to the 7th. After that things settled down and the month became dry, but with a few cloudy and/or foggy days as well. From the 17th onwards it became increasingly sunny and warmer.
Rainfall was well below the average and occurred on just 4 days. This was the driest month since before 2005 and continues a run of months with lower than average rainfall.
There were just 3 air frosts, all of which were slight, and there were 6 ground frosts. No snow was seen falling but it was a rather foggy month at times with 3 consecutively foggy days from the 13th to the 15th.
Sunshine levels were rather above the long term average for March. There were 8 consecutively sunny days with unbroken sunshine from the 23rd to the 30th.
No soil temperature readings were taken due to relocation of sensors.
Interestingly, for a month that was so warm the dominant wind direction was northerly. On the whole winds were generally light with the monthly maximum gust of only 26 mph.
Rainfall of any significance only fell on just 1 out of the 31 days.
Sea surface temperatures rose slowly from the 10th onwards.
Mean pressure was well above the average for March and indicative of the settled nature of this month.
A new sensor has been added that measures solar irradiance in watts per square metre falling on a horizontal surface.
Dewpoints were often below the average due to a dry, Continental airstream from mid-month onwards.
Despite the lower than average dewpoint, the relative humidity was only slightly below normal.
Weather Data for Otter Valley, Devon.  March 2012  
  Temp (oC) Hum (RH%) Dewpoint (oC) Wind (mph) Rain Pressure (hPa) Grass Sun  
  Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Max Ave Run mm Min Max Ave Min Hours Observations
1 6.6 11.6 9.1 84 97 91 4.5 9.2 6.9 10 1.6 39 0.0 1024 1028 1026 4.1 4.8 Foggy am, then sun
2 2.3 11.9 7.1 81 99 90 1.4 9.2 5.3 11 1.6 38 0.0 1021 1028 1024 -1.5 2.8 Sunny ints am, sea fog pm
3 8.4 14.3 11.4 57 98 78 4.3 9.1 6.7 24 5.7 137 1.0 1014 1020 1017 1.2 8.1 Sunny intervals all day
4 5.9 8.3 7.1 60 98 79 0.0 7.8 3.9 26 4.8 115 10.4 1014 1024 1019 0.2 4.4 Rain am, sunny intervals pm
5 4.1 10.5 7.3 59 87 73 0.2 3.7 2.0 23 4.7 113 0.0 1024 1027 1025 -1.5 6.6 Sunny intervals all day
6 -1.4 11.9 5.3 57 98 78 -2.5 6.0 1.8 12 1.7 41 0.0 1025 1028 1026 -3.9 7.7 Sunny intervals all day
7 7.8 12.9 10.4 60 96 78 2.6 10.3 6.5 26 7.8 186 0.6 1015 1025 1020 1.7 5.8 Rain am, then sunny ints
8 0.3 12.5 6.4 57 98 78 -1.1 5.9 2.4 13 1.8 43 0.0 1024 1035 1030 -2.3 5.9 Sunny intervals all day
9 7.2 12.9 10.1 70 90 80 3.8 8.3 6.1 11 2.3 56 0.0 1035 1036 1035 5.8 0.0 Cloudy all day
10 8.6 14.5 11.6 76 95 86 6.7 10.7 8.7 14 2.8 68 0.0 1036 1039 1038 3.8 2.4 Sunny intervals all day
11 8.9 16.6 12.8 65 95 80 5.1 10.7 7.9 10 2.3 56 0.0 1036 1039 1038 3.4 8.2 Cloudy am, sunny pm
12 3.7 15.7 9.7 75 98 87 2.6 11.5 7.1 10 2.1 51 0.0 1033 1036 1035 2.6 6.9 Foggy am, then sunny
13 3.2 8.2 5.7 92 98 95 2.0 7.8 4.9 8 1.8 44 0.0 1033 1035 1034 1.2 0.0 Foggy all day
14 6.8 8.3 7.6 85 97 91 5.4 7.1 6.3 14 1.7 40 0.0 1028 1033 1030 6.8 0.0 Foggy all day
15 7.2 10.5 8.9 91 98 95 5.6 9.2 7.4 12 1.3 32 0.0 1023 1028 1025 7.0 0.0 Foggy all day
16 7.2 10.1 8.7 82 95 89 4.8 8.0 6.4 14 3.2 77 0.0 1015 1023 1019 6.8 0.0 Foggy am, cloudy pm
17 7.1 12.1 9.6 74 98 86 4.8 9.7 7.3 20 3.6 87 2.4 1010 1015 1013 1.4 2.6 Sunny intervals all day
18 -0.6 12.6 6.0 60 98 79 -1.4 6.9 2.8 17 2.4 57 0.0 1011 1026 1019 -1.7 8.4 Sunny intervals all day
19 -1.4 13.7 6.2 52 98 75 -2.4 6.9 2.3 12 2.0 49 0.0 1026 1036 1031 -2.8 8.6 Sunny intervals all day
20 3.2 11.7 7.5 70 94 82 1.1 7.6 4.4 10 1.2 32 0.0 1035 1037 1036 0.5 0.0 Cloudy all day
21 6.1 14.8 10.5 65 91 78 3.1 8.9 6.0 11 1.8 43 0.0 1029 1036 1033 3.5 7.9 Cloudy am, then sunny
22 10.1 14.3 12.2 58 87 73 3.1 7.6 5.4 20 4.7 114 0.0 1025 1029 1027 7.1 5.1 Cloudy am, sunny ints pm
23 3.6 16.0 9.8 70 98 84 2.2 11.0 6.6 13 1.9 46 0.0 1025 1026 1025 2.2 11.4 Sunny all day
24 2.9 18.9 10.9 54 97 76 1.7 10.3 6.0 15 3.0 65 0.0 1025 1028 1027 1.2 11.4 Sunny all day
25 2.6 19.7 11.2 41 98 70 1.3 9.4 5.4 12 2.3 55 0.0 1028 1033 1031 1.3 11.8 Sunny all day
26 2.2 19.7 11.0 38 96 67 0.8 10.5 5.7 15 2.3 54 0.0 1033 1035 1034 1.0 11.7 Sunny all day
27 2.3 19.0 10.7 47 96 72 0.5 8.3 4.4 13 2.5 60 0.0 1033 1035 1034 0.8 11.7 Sunny all day
28 2.1 21.2 11.7 40 96 68 0.7 9.3 5.0 13 2.7 66 0.0 1030 1034 1032 0.6 11.8 Sunny all day
29 2.1 21.6 11.9 29 95 62 0.4 6.4 3.4 15 2.7 65 0.0 1027 1030 1029 0.5 11.9 Sunny all day
30 3.2 19.2 11.2 51 96 74 1.6 10.4 6.0 11 2.8 67 0.0 1022 1027 1024 1.9 11.6 Sunny all day
31 6.8 13.0 9.9 67 93 80 5.1 7.8 6.5 11 2.0 47 0.0 1019 1022 1020 4.5 0.0 Cloudy all day
4.5 14.1 9.3 63 96 80 2.3 8.6 5.4 14 2.7 2038 14.4 1025 1030 1028 1.9 189.5  

Graphs for March 2012
Figure 1. Temperature and Rainfall for March 2012.
Figure 2. Sunshine, UV Index and solar irradiance for March 2012.
Figure 3. Wind direction for March 2012.
Figure 4. Sea surface temperature & cooling/heating days for March 2012.
Figure 5. Mean wind speed, calm hours and air pressure for March 2012.