You'd think we were all in the middle of a cold March, from the daily
weather forecasts and press reports. No doubt some places are but not
here.

After the last two days with temperatures exceeding 10.0 deg C, I
have calculated the averages for Solent MRSC for the last week and
the last two weeks (thanks to Keith Harris's www.southendweather.net)
- they are closest enough to mid month to give a rough comparison.

Unfortunately there is no long term record for Solent MRSC or my own
location but there is for nearby Bognor Regis - which has a similar
seaside exposure as Lee-on-the-Solent. Comparisons are therefore with
the March averages for Bognor (taken from the Met Office website).

Feb 14 to Feb 20 2006 (Solent compared to Bognor monthly averages)

Mean Max 8.1; long term mean max 9.0; deficit 0.9 deg C.
Mean Min 2.4; long term mean min 3.5; deficit 1.1 deg C.
Overall mean deficit 1.0 deg C.

Feb 7 to Feb 20 2006 (Solent compared to Bognor averages)

Mean Max 7.7; long term mean max 9.0; deficit 1.3 deg C.
Mean Min 3.0; long term mean min 3.5; deficit 0.5 deg C.
Overall mean deficit 0.9 deg C.

The last week or two has been nowhere near what I'd describe as a
March cold spell - not down here anyway. How cold has it been
elsewhere?

--
Dave
Fareham.

Bracknell (Tawfield) ... March (so far, up to 0900 GMT readings 20th)
Mean 24hr maximum:... 07.0 [-2.9 anomaly on eLTA 1971-2000]

Mean 24hr minimum:... 00.6 [-2.8 anomaly on eLTA 1971-2000]

Mean of 24hr max & min:... 03.8 [-2.9 anomaly on eLTA 1971-2000]

Been cold enough here ;-)

Martin.

--
Martin Rowley: data via -
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/metindex.htm
Bracknell (Wooden Hill/Tawfield), Berkshire
NGR: SU 854 667 Elev: 80m
Lat: 51DEG23MIN30SEC(N): Long: 00DEG46MIN28SEC(W)

Feb 7 to Feb 20 2006 (Solent compared to Bognor averages)

Mean Max 7.7; long term mean max 9.0; deficit 1.3 deg C.
Mean Min 3.0; long term mean min 3.5; deficit 0.5 deg C.
Overall mean deficit 0.9 deg C.

The last week or two has been nowhere near what I'd describe as a
March cold spell - not down here anyway. How cold has it been
elsewhere?

--
Dave
Fareham.

After an excursion to the dizzy heights of 9.9°C yesterday (with strong
thermals as well-apparently)it's back to colder conditions here with a Tmax
of 5.0° late morning and then settling at 4.0° most of the afternoon. Still
on to be the coldest March on record here (since 1979) with a monthly mean
of 3.1°(-3.3LTA). Mean max 6.4°, mean min -0.3°,precipitation 23.8mm (50%)
and sunshine 77hrs (72%) so far.

All the best
--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk

Been cold here in Penzance

I've only ever recorded a Max Temp of 6 degrees in March on 7
occasions (records start 1992), 3 were this year. This included 5.0 on
17th, my coldest March day on record.

It's also currently my coldest March on record, by a fair margin, and
-1.3 from the 1971-2000 LTA

Graham

20/03/2006 17:15:03
Dave Ludlow wrote in message


You'd think we were all in the middle of a cold March, from the
daily
weather forecasts and press reports. No doubt some places are but
not
here.

After the last two days with temperatures exceeding 10.0 deg C, I
have calculated the averages for Solent MRSC for the last week and
the last two weeks (thanks to Keith Harris's www.southendweather.
net)
- they are closest enough to mid month to give a rough comparison.

Unfortunately there is no long term record for Solent MRSC or my
own
location but there is for nearby Bognor Regis - which has a similar
seaside exposure as Lee-on-the-Solent. Comparisons are therefore
with
the March averages for Bognor (taken from the Met Office website).

Feb 14 to Feb 20 2006 (Solent compared to Bognor monthly averages)

Mean Max 8.1; long term mean max 9.0; deficit 0.9 deg C.
Mean Min 2.4; long term mean min 3.5; deficit 1.1 deg C.
Overall mean deficit 1.0 deg C.

Feb 7 to Feb 20 2006 (Solent compared to Bognor averages)

Mean Max 7.7; long term mean max 9.0; deficit 1.3 deg C.
Mean Min 3.0; long term mean min 3.5; deficit 0.5 deg C.
Overall mean deficit 0.9 deg C.

The last week or two has been nowhere near what I'd describe as a
March cold spell - not down here anyway. How cold has it been
elsewhere?

--
Dave
Fareham.
Some of us are. Coldest March (1st-20th) on Fair Isle since records
began way back in 1974! Daily mean temp has crept up to 3.1C (3.2C
1987), but this is still 1.6C below the LT mean.
We've had a snow drift lying at sea level, at the foot of steep ENE-
facing cliffs for three weeks now!
Dave
Fair Isle

Mean here 2.0c, (3.2c below average), coldest March since 1962 (1.8c),
however with the Met Office now moving away from the heavy snow
prediction to Spring arriving this weekend that mean will rise.
Guy who does Midlands today weather has being going on for the last week
about how he can't see any end in sight of the cold spell suddenly got
very excited tonight about temperatures of 14c to 16c this weekend!
Maybe it will only end up the coldest since 1996 (3.3c).

Weston Coyney weather station (North Staffordshire) 220 metres asl

"Dave Ludlow" wrote in message
...

Unfortunately there is no long term record for Solent MRSC or my own
location but there is for nearby Bognor Regis - which has a similar
seaside exposure as Lee-on-the-Solent. Comparisons are therefore with
the March averages for Bognor (taken from the Met Office website).

Ooooh, I think that's something of a leap of faith. So far this month
the mean max at Lee/Solent is 7.8°C, at Thorney Island, 7.0°C, and
at Bognor 6.8°C. I'd always had a feeling that Lee was a particularly
warm spot without ever being quite interested enough to investigate ...
but now, looking at the geological map, I note that Lee sits on marine
gravels while there are patches of boulder clay above chalk at
Thorney Island and boulder clay above London clay at Bognor.
Fareham looks geologically complex so without knowing exactly
where you live it's not possible to say whether you're more like
Lee or Thorney.

Philip

On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 17:25:24 -0000, "Philip Eden"
philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote:


"Dave Ludlow" wrote in message
.. .

Unfortunately there is no long term record for Solent MRSC or my own
location but there is for nearby Bognor Regis - which has a similar
seaside exposure as Lee-on-the-Solent. Comparisons are therefore with
the March averages for Bognor (taken from the Met Office website).

Ooooh, I think that's something of a leap of faith. So far this month
the mean max at Lee/Solent is 7.8°C, at Thorney Island, 7.0°C, and
at Bognor 6.8°C. I'd always had a feeling that Lee was a particularly
warm spot without ever being quite interested enough to investigate ...
but now, looking at the geological map, I note that Lee sits on marine
gravels while there are patches of boulder clay above chalk at
Thorney Island and boulder clay above London clay at Bognor.
Fareham looks geologically complex so without knowing exactly
where you live it's not possible to say whether you're more like
Lee or Thorney.

Thanks for the words of caution, Philip; and to everyone replying to
this thread. It does seem that here, we have had less cold conditions
than most and very much less cold conditions than some.

I am surprised at the difference in mean max this month between Lee
and Bognor. My own mean max is 8.0 deg C (1st to the 20th) very close
to the Solent MRSC mean max - although I do, occasionally, see some
surprising differences and I've commented on this a few times.

The soil here in West Fareham is light and stony - ideal for
strawberry growing, for which the area was well known. But I do not
know how the geology compares to Lee; I suspect it is very similar and
I would be interested to know if it is. I am located 11 KM due North
of Castle Point, East Cowes; 3.3 KM North East of the mouth of the
Hamble.

--
Dave
West Fareham.
41m. amsl.

"Dave Ludlow" wrote:
On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 17:25:24 -0000, "Philip Eden" wrote:

but now, looking at the geological map, I note that Lee sits on marine
gravels while there are patches of boulder clay above chalk at
Thorney Island and boulder clay above London clay at Bognor.
Fareham looks geologically complex so without knowing exactly
where you live it's not possible to say whether you're more like
Lee or Thorney.

The soil here in West Fareham is light and stony - ideal for
strawberry growing, for which the area was well known. But I do not
know how the geology compares to Lee; I suspect it is very similar and
I would be interested to know if it is. I am located 11 KM due North
of Castle Point, East Cowes; 3.3 KM North East of the mouth of the
Hamble.

Right, Dave, you have the same geology as Lee ... post-glacial marine
gravels
above Tertiary beds of sands and gravels. I misread the maps re Bognor
and Thorney Is which have a superficial cover of brick earth, not
boulder clay. (Boulder clay along the south coast, dear oh dear!)

You can also see roughly where the wx station is at Lee on
Google Earth (high res image shows the MRSC compound very
clearly ... lots of asphalt, not much grass) whereas in Locks Heath
you're still low res.

Philip

"Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote in message
...

"Dave Ludlow" wrote:
On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 17:25:24 -0000, "Philip Eden" wrote:

but now, looking at the geological map, I note that Lee sits on marine
gravels while there are patches of boulder clay above chalk at
Thorney Island and boulder clay above London clay at Bognor.
Fareham looks geologically complex so without knowing exactly
where you live it's not possible to say whether you're more like
Lee or Thorney.

The soil here in West Fareham is light and stony - ideal for
strawberry growing, for which the area was well known. But I do not
know how the geology compares to Lee; I suspect it is very similar and
I would be interested to know if it is. I am located 11 KM due North
of Castle Point, East Cowes; 3.3 KM North East of the mouth of the
Hamble.

Right, Dave, you have the same geology as Lee ... post-glacial marine
gravels
above Tertiary beds of sands and gravels. I misread the maps re Bognor
and Thorney Is which have a superficial cover of brick earth, not
boulder clay. (Boulder clay along the south coast, dear oh dear!)

You can also see roughly where the wx station is at Lee on
Google Earth (high res image shows the MRSC compound very
clearly ... lots of asphalt, not much grass) whereas in Locks Heath
you're still low res.

Philip


Philip, these are interesting comments that you make, but how much
difference can geology play locally. I'm sure that we're all aware of the
effect of sandy soils and maybe clay, but is there a significant effect on
long term temperature?

--
David Mitchell, 70m amsl, Langtoft, East Riding of Yorkshire.