By Philip Eden

The weather was very unsettled during the first ten days or so, with frequent rain, strong winds, and a marked shortage of sunshine. A strong rise of pressure took place around the 12th, and the rest of the month was dry and very sunny with frequent warm days.

The Central England Temperature (CET) for March 2003 was 7.6°C, which is 1.2 degC above the mean for the standard reference period 1971-2000; in the last 100 years only 10 Marches were warmer as measured by the CET, one had the same mean temperature, and 89 were colder. However, five of the last 13 Marches were at least as warm. Daytime temperatures were 2 to 3 degC above the long-term average over most of the UK and were the highest locally in England since 1961. Night-time temperatures, meanwhile, were within 0.5 degC of the long-term average.

There were no exceptional individual temperatures, but a maximum of 21°C was recorded at Kensington, west London, on the 23rd, and this was the highest in the UK in March for four years. There were a number of sharp frosts during the third week, and - 8.9°C was reported from Altnaharra in Sutherland on the morning of the 18th. The daily range at Altnaharra that day was 26.8 degC (from -8.9°C to 17.9°C) - very unusual but not a UK record.

Rainfall, averaged over England and Wales, was 37mm which is 44 per cent below the average for the standard reference period 1971-2000. During the last 100 years, only 21 Marches were drier (most recently in 2000) while 79 were wetter. In the main populat ion centres in Scotland the total for March 2003 was 38mm which is 29 per cent below the normal amount, whereas the Northern Ireland total of 36mm was 37 per cent below. Large parts of the country had no measurable rain after the 11th, and in parts of Eas t Anglia and Lincolnshire there was none after the 7th. Monthly rainfall totals ranged from 11mm at Lowestoft in Suffolk to 204mm at Capel Curig in Snowdonia. Percentages ranged from 135 at Broadford on the Isle of Skye to just 19 at Torquay in Devon.

Sunshine over England and Wales totalled 169.9 hours during March 2003 which is 50 per cent above the long-term average for the month, about the same as 1929, but we have to go back to 1907 to find a significantly sunnier one. The equivalent figure for Sc otland's main population centres was 169 hours (65 per cent above) - provisionally a new record for March. For Northern Ireland it was 165 hours (51 per cent above), the highest in March there since 1929. Monthly aggregates ranged from 72 hours at Storno way, the only site in the UK with below-normal sunshine, to 206 hours at Clacton in Essex, while percentages ranged from 64 at Stornoway to 196 at Saughall in Ayrshire and 189 at Aspatria in Cumbria.

Philip Eden's new book, The Daily Telegraph Book of the Weather, published by Continuum, is available for £16.99 (post free in the UK). To order please call Telegraph Books Direct on 0870 155 7222 or visit the amazon.co.uk website.

(c) Philip Eden