We’ve had quite a mixed bag of weather so far this month, and the statistics midway through represent that. The first ten days were rather unsettled with a series of Atlantic depressions including Storm Jake bringing spells of wet and windy weather – and some snow for northern areas. However, since then a blocking high has brought a lot of fine weather which has allowed for some pleasantly warm days but also chilly nights.

The statistics for 1-15 March show that temperatures across England were generally below average, by more than 2 °C for eastern parts. Wales and eastern Scotland were also slightly cooler than normal whilst the rest of Scotland and Northern Ireland were around average.

1 – 15 March 2016 mean temperature anomaly map

With the unsettled weather at the start of the month, parts of central and eastern England have already seen over their whole-month average rainfall. Elsewhere it’s not been as wet with a swathe from the Lake District to the Highlands actually having had less rainfall than would be expected for this time of the month.

1 – 15 March 2016 rainfall anomaly map

Sunshine-wise we’ve had around normal amounts in most places, although some western areas have been a little brighter than average. This will be partly down to the recent high pressure that has brought settled conditions and the best of the sunshine in the west, whilst cloudier conditions have affected eastern areas.

Data from the Met Office’s UK digitised records dates back to 1910. You can explore our climate data on our website. With half of the month still to go it’s not possible to make claims about the whole of March.

The current forecast is for the blocking high to gradually break down as we go through the weekend and into next week. Friday and the weekend will be cloudier than recent days for many, but it should remain mostly dry. During next week we’re likely to see some unsettled weather, particularly in the north and northeast.

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