Current Weather Conditions - March 2017

Grange's March 2017 summary

Rather wet, warm and sunny.

Rainfall: Wettest March since 2008. Very wet on the 22nd.
I recorded a rainfall total of 69.0mm (157% of the LTA) during March 2017 and it was my wettest March since 2008. It was a very unremarkably wet March overall as there have been much more wetter Marches than 2017. 2008 for instance had recorded 112.4mm (255% of the LTA). What was remarkable about this March rainfall wise, however, was the amount of wet days and how wet the 22nd was. I had recorded 23 wet days (days with 0.1mm or more) during March, my second most wet days on record for March. This meant that there was only 8 completely dry days during March, 4 of which were the very sunny period from the 24th-27th. I recorded my highest daily rainfall of 24.1mm on the 22nd which made it my wettest March day on record, wetter than the previous record of 16.7mm set on the 26th of March 2016, just a year ago. Other than the 22nd, there weren't any other very wet days (days with 10mm or more) during March. Even the 3rd, which was a very soggy day across Ireland, recorded only 7.2mm.

Temperature: Warmest March and highest March temperature since 2012.
I recorded a mean temperature of 8.2c (+0.7c above the LTA) during March 2017 which made it my warmest March since 2012. It was just barely warmer than March 2014 which recorded a mean of 8.1c. This was the fourth consecutive month warmer than average and every month of 2017 so far has been warmer than average here. This is the first time since 2014 that all the first three months of the year have been warmer than average. I recorded a mean maximum temperature of 12.1c which was nearly +2.0c above the average whilst minimum temperatures were much closer to average which made March not that particularly warm overall. I recorded a maximum temperature of 4.6c under the heavy rain on the 22nd which was my coldest March day since 2013. Just a week after, I recorded my highest temperature of the month with 18.1c on the 29th, my highest temperature for March since 2012. My previous highest was 17.0c on the 15th. Much of March's maximum temperatures were above average but there were some exceptions, the first few days of the month and the period 21st-23rd when northerlies affected the country. I recorded my minimum temperature of -1.5c on the 25th which was my highest March minimum temperature since 2014. I recorded only 2 air frosts during March, my second lowest amount of frosts on record.

Sunshine: Sunniest March since 2011. Very sunny from the 24th-27th.
I recorded a sunshine total of 135 hours (130% of the LTA) which was a huge improvement on the very dull February. March recorded 81 more hours of sunshine than February! In a typical March, it should have only 28 more hours of sunshine than February. This goes to show ya how dull February was. It's frankly surprising how March 2017 was sunnier than any March here from 2012-2016. I would have thought March 2012 was sunnier but the statistics do not show that; March 2012 recorded 132 hours of sunshine. 45 out of these 135 hours of sunshine were recorded during the period 24th-27th which was my sunniest period for March since 2017. My sunniest day for March was the 27th which recorded 11.6 hours of sunshine, my third sunniest March day on record. The second half was sunnier than the first with 53 hours and 81 hours respectively. I recorded 3 completely dull days during March which is about average or even slightly below.

A very mixed bag of a March. There were some beautiful days like the 27th or 31st but some absolute atrocious ones like the 22nd. I give this March a C rating weather wise.

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Averages\Extremes for the month of March 2017

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Average temperature = 8.6�C
Average humidity = 86%
Average dewpoint = 6.3�C
Average barometer = 1009.3 hPa
Average windspeed = 8.8 km/h
Average gustspeed = 15.1 km/h
Average direction = 67� (ENE)
Rainfall for month = 1.0 mm
Rainfall for year = 367.8 mm
Maximum rain per minute = 0.4 mm on day 06 at time 13:18
Maximum temperature = 17.2�C on day 27 at time 14:11
Minimum temperature = 1.7�C on day 21 at time 05:03
Maximum humidity = 99% on day 18 at time 18:03
Minimum humidity = 39% on day 26 at time 14:34
Maximum dewpoint = 11.3�C on day 29 at time 11:05
Minimum dewpoint = -2.3�C on day 21 at time 1:18
Maximum pressure = 1032.7 hPa on day 25 at time 00:23
Minimum pressure = 977.5 hPa on day 05 at time 07:13
Maximum windspeed = 33.3 kmh from 207�(SSW) on day 22 at time 14:11
Maximum gust speed = 62.9 km/h from 068�(ENE) on day 19 at time 00:51
Maximum heat index = 17.2�C on day 27 at time 14:11
Avg daily max temp :11.4�C
Avg daily min temp :6.1�C
Total windrun = 6357.2km