Climate summaries

Overview of weather across the UK for previous months, seasons and years

Those interested in climate change and predictions of future climates should also visit the Climate Change pages.

UK last month

March 2021

The first week of March was cold but largely settled, followed by a disturbed spell of weather from 9th to 12th. Many areas were predominantly dry during the second half of the month, although western and northern areas saw persistent rain during 24th to 30th. The second half of the month was also much warmer, especially the last three days.

The provisional UK mean temperature was 6.4 °C, which is 0.9 °C above the 1981-2010 long-term average, with the milder second half more than making up for the initial cold spell. Both mean maximum and minimum temperatures were rather above average generally. Many areas had a rather dry month, with rainfall 89% of average overall, although some parts of western Scotland, north-west England, and north Wales exceeded their average rainfall amount. Sunshine was 100% of average, but rather below average in Northern Ireland and the Western and Northern Isles.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 24.5 °C was recorded at Kew Gardens (Greater London) on the 30th. A minimum temperature of -8.5 °C was recorded at Braemar (Aberdeenshire) on the 6th. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 GMT on the 29th, 177.2 mm of rain fell at Seathwaite (Cumbria). A wind gust of 86 knots (99 mph) was recorded at Needles (Isle of Wight) on the 13th. A snow depth of 3 cm was recorded at Tulloch Bridge (Inverness-shire) on the 13th.

Regional values for March 2021