Weather log March 2021
Mon 1st contrasting fortunes on the first day of Spring; mild and sunny WW while much of the Midlands overcast or misty and cold, maxima Porthmadog 14.9c, Aberdaron 12.1c, Lwn 11.9c, MH 8.1c, Pershore 5.8c, Coventry 4.5c, Market Bosworth & Winterbourne, Bham 4.0c; sunshine Aberdaron 10.5 hrs, Lwn est 10 hours, Aberporth 9.7 hrs, Shobdon 2.0 hrs, Coventry, Nottingham & Shawbury 0.0 hrs
Turned more generally rather cold by end of first week at least dry and bright:
Sat 6th sharp frost in places, min CC -5.8c, Trawsgoed -5.3c, Pershore -5.0c, Mona -4.4c, Lwn -3.8c, Coventry -2.1c, Watnall +0.9c, Mumbles 3.0c; nice sunny day for WW rather cloudy Midlands...
Turned unsettled and windy from 10th:
Thu 11th strong winds last night gusts to over 80mph for exposed parts of Wales, max gusts CC 86mph, Aberdaron 84mph, Mumbles 81mph, Aberporth 72mph, Trawsgoed 64mph, Lwn 56mph, Shawbury 55mph, Coventry 42mph; power outages reported in some areas
Mostly dry spell after mid month:
Tue 16th variable temperatures from average Cardigan Bay to rather warm SE Wales & parts of the Midlands; Aberporth max 9.9c, Lwn 10.7c, CL, Coleshill & Coventry 12.2c, MH 13.6c, Watnall 14.9c, Cardiff & Shobdon 17.4c, Pershore 17.9c warmest in UK
More unsettled towards month end with variable temps but then an exceptionally warm finale:
Tue 30th a widespread grass frost, minimas Shobdon & Tirabad +0.2c, Trawsgoed 0.7c, Llanwnnen 0.9c, CL 2.5c, Watnall 5.3c, Valley 7.5c. Exceptionally warm day for March with plentiful sunshine, max widely over 20c; Coventry max 21.7c had its warmest March day since 1929 (22.0c) while here at Lwn max 21.4c a March record beating 20.9c from 26/03/2012; other max Astwood Bank (Worcestershire) 22.4c, Shobdon 22.2c, Gogerddan (Ceredigion) 21.6c, Pembrey Sands & Pershore 21.4c, Trawsgoed 21.2c, CL & Coleshill 21.1c, Shawbury 20.0c, Aberporth 19.4c, Valley 13.4c.
Wed 31st another exceptionally warm day for the Midlands and much of Wales, however some coasts misty and rather cool; Coventry reached 23.0c a record high for March (srb 1892) other max Astwood Bank 23.7c, Hereford 23.1c, Lwn 20.7c, Shawbury 20.4c, Trawsgoed 19.6c, Aberdaron 11.7c
Nature notes
Tue 16th hedgerows coming into leaf; still reasonable showing of Snowdrops; brief snatch of Chiffchaff by river Aberystwyth (first local reports end of Feb) and I may have heard a briefer snatch first week of the month but unsure? Lovely showing of Daffs now!
Wed 17th forestry Woodcock, likely Goshawk, flock of nervy Fieldfare as a BOP sped over (Sparrowhawk?)
Wed 24th first proper Chiffchaff tall trees top of garden; first Bluebell flowers appearing in top (wild) garden; forestry first tadpoles (frog) there was some frog spawn at Longwood in Feb.
Thu 25th 2 Chiffchaff singing after dawn.
Thu 25th Lampeter magnolias about to burst into bloom.
Fri 26th forestry tadpoles seem in a precarious puddle that wont take much to dry out; strings of toad spawn in a more substantial pool.
Sun 28th Aberystwyth vocal and close Chiffchaff followed us along the river adjacent to Morrison this afternoon.
Tue 30th saw A Red Admiral then a Tortoiseshell while out cycling this afternoon
Wed 31st first Swallow flying above the gardens this afternoon, it came quite low above my head, its quite unusual to see one in March; first Blackcap heard from top of garden. Forestry quite a few Chiffchaff, tadpoles hanging on but we are in a dry spell this week, Peacock butterfly bathing in the sun.
Quite a few Bats during the final week, the larger ones (Noctules?)
March 2021 summary
Generally rather dry and rather mild with near average sunshine...
Snowdonia saw above average rainfall (Capel Curig 328.2mm) while for parts of the Midlands a very dry month (Pershore 12.8mm) so a large rainfall variation this month...
Rainfall totals March 2021
Valley 41.4mm (66%)
CC 328.2mm (135%)
Aberdaron 48.6mm (72%)
Aberporth 39.0mm (63%)
Llanwnnen 64.9mm (78%)
Pembrey Sands c 50mm
Mumbles 36.2mm (50%)
MH c 53mm
Nottingham 37.6mm
Shawbury 28.8mm (62%)
Coleshill 25.4mm (50%)
Coventry 37.2mm (79%)
CL 35.6mm (80%)
Pershore 12.8mm (33%)
Sunshine March 2021
Aberdaron 117.1 hrs
Aberporth 94.7 hrs (80%)
Llanwnnen 89 hours (96%) estimated
Nottingham 88.1 hrs
Shawbury 98.8 hrs (103%)
Coventry 107.8 hrs (81%)
Shobdon 101.4 hrs
