March 2025 will go down as a firmly milder and drier than average month for UK and Ireland and just another warmer-than-normal month for ALL of Europe except Iberia.
Blocking High pressure has dominated central and northern Europe forcing the Atlantic flow south bringing a much wetter (and cooler) than usual month to Iberia.
Some shifts in the high has presented spells of cooler and milder with the latter most common.
Through the first 5-10 days, the high anchored over the near continent providing cool days and cold, frosty nights, even producing England’s lowest March temperature in over a decade.
While the high brought clear, calm conditions to England and near continent, SW winds brought day after day mild air and with breeze and cloud, nights held above freezing.
Mid-month saw renewed high pressure further north and this provided the same settled conditions with frosty nights to Scotland, N England and N Ireland.
We are in the midst of England’s driest March in 60 years while it’s Spain’s wettest with 3x their normal.
The month is ending on a more cyclonic note with the deepest (sub-980) lows of the month crossing the N of the UK presenting cool, wet and windy conditions for most, however the high pressure dominance we’ve become use to looks to make a comeback as we step into April.
MET OFFICE: A record-breaking March for sunshine
Excerpt from MO arcticle
As many look forward to a sunny and warm week ahead, the first week of April looks set to follow in the theme of meteorological spring so far: dry, warm and sunny.
Provisional Met Office statistics show that England enjoyed its sunniest March since records began in 1910, with many individual counties also topping their sunshine duration records. It was also the UK’s third sunniest March on record, and Wales’ second.
It was also a very dry month, with only Scotland recording more than half of its meteorological average rainfall.
Very low rainfall, especially for England and Wales
March was also a very dry month, with below average rainfall for many. Provisional statistics show that the UK recorded just 43% of its average rainfall for March.
Most of the southern half of England and parts of south Wales recorded just a fifth of their long-term average rainfall, with most stations in this area having recorded less than 10mm of rainfall across the month, with less than 5mm in the driest areas.
Wales recorded its 4th driest March since the series began in 1836, with just 23.9mm of rainfall across the month. England too was especially dry, recording its 6th driest March and Northern Ireland its 9th. England again saw a north/south divide, with the south of the country recording far less rainfall than the north (16% and 38% respectively). Many counties too recorded a very dry March, with Norfolk, Suffolk, Devon, Cambridgeshire and Gwynedd all within their top three driest Marches since 1836.
Only Scotland recorded more than half of its average rainfall (64%), with Shetland the only county to see above average rainfall (129%).
Above average temperatures for all this March
The mean temperature for March was also above average for the UK, up 1.3°C. Scotland in particular, saw higher mean temperatures, 1.7°C higher than average. The highest temperature of 2025 so far was reached with 21.3°C in both Northolt, west London and Chertsey, Surrey on 20 March, however there is nothing unusual in this as we move through the year.
The UK’s experienced its tenth warmest March by mean temperature, but fourth warmest by average maximum temperature. This is because high pressure meant temperatures could build by day, resulting in high daytime maxima, but were brought down closer to average overnight, as heat escaped under clear skies.
March 2025 Monthly Weather Report
Highest Maximum 21.3°C on 20th at Northolt (Greater London, 33mAMSL) and Chertsey, Abbey
Mead P Sta (Surrey, 12mAMSL)
Lowest Maximum 2.3°C on 12th at Tomintoul No 6 (Banffshire, 320mAMSL)
Highest Minimum 11.9°C on 22nd at London, St James’s Park (Greater London, 5mAMSL)
Lowest Minimum -9.0°C on 18th at Tomintoul No 6 (Banffshire, 320mAMSL)
Lowest Grass
Minimum -14.3°C on 19th at Copley (Durham, 253mAMSL)
Most Rainfall 60.0mm on 27th at Tyndrum No 3 (Perthshire (in Central Region), 168mAMSL)
Most Sunshine 12.2hr on 31st at Exeter Airport No 2 (Devon, 27mAMSL)
Highest Gust 62Kt 71mph on 4th at Lerwick (Shetland, 82mAMSL)
Highest Gust
(mountain*) 109Kt 125mph on 30th at Cairngorm Summit (Inverness-shire, 1237mAMSL)
Greatest Snow
Depth at 0900
UTC
1cm on 13th at Copley (Durham, 253mAMSL) and Tomintoul No 6 (Banffshire,
320mAMSL)
Below Graphics From Reading University
My March 2025 Stats
My Highlights…
By far the MILDEST & DRIEST March!
Warmest March Day!
Fewest March nights below 0°C (6)
UK, Ireland, Europe & Global Highlights
Mar 6th: Thanks to clear sky, light winds, Benson, Oxfordshire recorded -6C or lower on 3 consecutive morning’s to open to month.
Mar 7th: Big night-day temperature swing for East Anglia. -3.4C at S Newington vs 19.0C Santon Downham.
Mar 8th: 18.6°C Borris, highest temperature ever recorded in #Denmark so early in the month [by far!]. 21.0°C Duisburg, #Germany and a monthly record broken in List auf Sylt with 17.9°C. 20.1°C Schaffen, #Belgium 20.0°C Deelen, #Netherlands 19.6°C Pinsk, #Belarus
Mar 9th: In Mexico. from extreme heat to very low temperatures! Yesterday, the temperatures rose to 45.5°C in Gallinas [47.5°C on the 4th], 45.0°C in Río Frío & 44.5°C in Padilla, at record levels for this time of year. This morning, El Vergel [2,738 m] had a low of -14.6°C.
Mar 10th: 17.4°C in Liepāja, #Latvia , national record for the first third of March! 17.3°C Rucava 16.8°C Pāvilosta.
Mar 12th: -45.3°C in Key Lake, Saskatchewan , noticeably low for the 2nd third of March [25°C below average]. The monthly record is -50.9°C, which is also the March provincial record.
Mar 16th: Record heat in Greece, Turkey, Russia, Cyprus, etc. Never been this hot this early in March.
Hundreds of monthly records broken. 34.9°C Fódele unofficially a new March national record for Greece! also, 33.9°C Balí 33.7°C Sísi.
In Turkey, 35.6°C Kozluk 35.2°C Avluca 35.1°C Devrek.
In Cyprus, 33.4°C Lefkóniko 33.1°C Ercan Airport 33.1°C Nicosia.
In Russia, 31.2°C Svetlograd 30.7°C Armavir 30.6°C Nevinnomyssk 30.3°C Tihoreck 30.1°C Divnoe,
In Georgia, 30.7°C Zugdidi 30.6°C Kutaisi.
In Israel, 37.9°C Eilat 37.8°C Gilgal.
Mar 17th: 42.6°C at In Guezzam! New March national record for Algeria , breaking 42.1°C recorded at the same station earlier this month.
Mar 20th: Warmest day of the year in #France , with Tmax > 25°C in the foothills of the Pyrénées, thanks to a strong foehn effect. 25.6°C Ayros-Arbouix 25.5°C Trois-Villes 24.7°C Accous 24.1°C Adast Also 20-22°C in Alsace.
Mar 23rd: Record heat in Central & East Asia. SOUTH KOREA MARCH NATIONAL RECORD! 28.5°C Gumi Previous record: 28.2°C Jeonju (2013) KYRGYZSTAN MARCH NATIONAL RECORD! 30.8°C Jalal-Abad Previous record: 30.5°C Bishkek (1971) Up to 28.3°C in Japan with many monthly records broken.
Mar 26th: Historic heatwave in China with 535 monthly records broken today! Up to 42°C at unofficial AWS, which would break the March national record set in Yuanyang in 2007 [41.3°C]. 39.0°C Tianyang 38.6°C Baise & Yanjin 38.3°C Luodian 37.8°C Yuanyang.
Mar 29th: 33.0C reached at Batumi along on the eastern shores of the Black Sea. Hottest March day for the Rep of Georgia.
Mar 29th: Astonishing temperature difference between NYC and Boston. 80F NYC while only 35F with snow in Boston. The immediate NYC area also observed stunning temperature differences with 26C in Central Park while only 8.8C at LaGuardia Airport.
Mar 30th: EXCEPTIONAL COLD IN ANTARCTICA -75.5C reached in the French-Italian station of Concordia: This is just 0.6C above the world record of lowest temperature ever recorded in March. (M Herrera)
Mar 31st: Record Heat in Portugal and Spain with 30.8C en Lamas de Mouro in Northern Portugal at more than 800m asl. According to @CarloDesign1 a new record for March was also set in Galicia, Spain at Padron with 30.0C (data since 1994). List from IPMA- Map from AEMET (Max Herrera)
MARCH 2025 WORLD EXTREME TEMPERATURES (Max Herrera)
NH Highest: 47.5C Gallinas (Mexico) 4 March NH Lowest:-53.4C Delyankir (Russia) 8 March
SH Highest: 46.4C Birdsville (Australia) 1 March SH Lowest:-75.5C Concordia (Antarctica) 29 March
APRIL: Another Dry Month Ahead?
While March ends wetter and more unsettled, high pressure isn’t far away and is set to make a speedy comeback as we step into April.
Little rain for much of the UK and Ireland away from S Ire/NW Scot but a very different story in areas on the periphery of the high (SW & SE Europe esp)
There’s strong model agreement that overall April looks dry!
While high pressure through (at least) the first half of April should be close if not over the UK and northern Europe essentially cutting off Atlantic moisture, the question is temperature? As you know, position of the high is key in determining type of air mass we receive.
I believe we could see surges of decent warmth as well as late season cold shots this April. After all it seems like we’re seeing these big abrupt swings more and more in recent months and years.
Here’s the 500mb for April.
There’s a fair +AO/NAO, phase 4-5 MJO look here!
Most models suggest average to above average temps.
An unusually early final stratospheric warming is likely the main culprit behind this dry, highly blocked hemispheric setup expected through much of April. The high is likely to nudge east initially allowing surges of decent warmth to spread up the western side of the continent from Africa weeks 1-2. However, another possibility is for the high to shift west and northwest up to Greenland presenting opportunity for for late season cold shots. Another possibility is for the high to move up into Scandinavia providing an easterly which quite frankly could generate a cold or mild easterly depending on the type of air mass over Europe.
Swings back and forth but overall drier than average should be expected and thus gardeners beware!
The Verdict…
A back and forth month temperature-wise but Warmer & Drier-than normal looks likely for UK & Ireland as well much of central Europe. Possibly Wetter & Cooler for S Europe & northern Scandinavia.
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