Despite the current cold and snowy weather, March 2012 was the third warmest in records dating back to 1910 and the warmest since 1957. High pressure was in charge for most of the month giving very settled and often sunny weather. The sunniest period took place during the last two weeks when we saw temperatures soar to the low 20s. On the 27th, Aboyne in Aberdeenshire recorded a high of 23.6 ºC setting a new record for Scotland.

The settled conditions did not bring a lot of rain and overall only 38% of the UK’s average monthly rainfall for March was received. This amounted to 36.4 mm and the 5th driest March on record.