Diary of Highlights

1st to 2nd
The very unsettled and windy weather of late February continued into March as a deep area of low pressure brought gale force west or north-westerly winds on the 1st with outbreaks of rain or showers, some of these wintry across the Pennines. Winds then eased a little during the following day, but there were further outbreaks of rain or showers.

3rd to 5th
Winds briefly turned northerly later on the 3rd and during the 4th, bringing colder, but sunnier weather to many places. There were also showers, some of these wintry in the north and east. Pressure built strongly with many places having a cold, sunny day on the 5th after a widespread overnight frost. Benson (Oxfordshire) recorded a temperature of -8.1 °C on the 5th.

6th to 9th
Strong, but milder, westerly winds returned on the 6th bringing some spells of rain interspersed with sunshine and showers. Later on the 9th, heavy rain and severe gales spread to parts of the west.

10th to 12th
Many places had severe gales and heavy rain on the 10th, with the south-west of England especially taking the brunt of this storm. There were gusts of wind in excess of 70 m.p.h. and some of the rain and showers were accompanied by thunder. After a brief lull, severe gales were renewed on the night of the 11th and 12th with northern England catching the worst, though some very squally winds were noted further south. Berry Head (Devon) recorded a gust of 82 m.p.h. on the 10th and Crosby (Merseyside) recorded a gust of 75 m.p.h. on the 12th.

13th to 16th
Thereafter, it became much less windy and there were frosts across parts of northern England on some nights. However, heavy rain spread north-eastwards during the 15th, and lasted into the 16th, the heaviest of the rain across central and southern England where there were 30 to 50 mm of rain in some localities. Temperatures reached 15.8 °C at Wiggonholt (Sussex) on 15th.

17th to 21st
Any remaining rain across southern England cleared with much colder northerly winds spreading southwards. However, there was plenty of sunshine by day, but clear skies overnight allowed for some sharp frosts. There were showers of sleet or snow near some North Sea coasts. After a brief milder spell on the 20th and 21st, accompanied by strong winds and rain, much colder and very strong northerly winds spread southwards for the Easter Weekend.

22nd to 24th
For many the Easter Weekend was one of the wintriest weekends of the entire season with many places seeing significant snowfall of 5 to 10 cm across some eastern areas on Easter Sunday morning. Following a sharp night frost, Easter Monday was generally fine with some sunshine, though north-west England became cloudy and damp later.

25th to 31st
After a cold start, the weather gradually became milder during this time as northerly winds were replaced by westerly winds. However, it became much more unsettled and at times very windy with outbreaks of rain. There was heavy rain in many places on the 28th and 29th and on the latter day, gale force winds affected some south-western areas with gusts of 50 to 60 m.p.h. The final days of the month were quieter with sunshine and scattered heavy showers.