An historical perspective on the climate statistics
for Coventry during March 2008


Temperature


With a mean monthly temperature of 6.2C, 0.2C below the 30-year
average for Coventry (1971-2000), this became only the fourth monthly
negative temperature anomaly in the city in the past two years.

Looking through the record books, we find that only four March months
have been colder than this since 1987 (1995, 1996, 2001 and 2006).


Rainfall


The monthly rainfall total of 65.0mm is 28% higher than the 30-year
climatological normal for Coventry.

Only four March months have been wetter than this since 1982 ( 1988,
1994, 1998 and 2007).

Snow fell on six days during March, including each of the four days
over the Easter holiday weekend, though no snow was found lying on the
ground at the 0900hr climatological reading time, apart from a 10%
cover on Easter Sunday.

This was the highest number of March snow days in Coventry since 1987
(7). Just out of interest, the highest number of snow days during any
March since 1892 was 12 in 1975..

Sunshine


Despite the higher than average rainfall, it was also a sunny month,
with 39% more sunshine than is normal during March.

With 139.0 hours of sunshine, we find that only seven March months
have recorded more sunshine than 2008 since 1948 ( 1961, 1967, 1982,
1990, 1995, 2003, 2007).





Wind


This was the windiest March, with a mean wind speed of 9.3mph, in
Coventry since 1994 (11.3mph).

There were four gale days during March 2008, the highest number on
record at this time of year back to 1892.

Although we are not sure of the accuracy of wind recording in Coventry
before the electronic age, it is interesting to note that four gale
days in a month is the most ever recorded in the city, during November
1946, December 1954, December 1974 and February 1990.


Days of special interest during March 2008


• 15th The wettest day of the month recorded 26.6mm of rain; only five
March months have included wetter days than this since 1892 (1909,
1916, 1919, 1953, 2007).

• 31st The warmest day of the month only managed a maximum
temperature of 14.0C on the last day of March. This is the lowest such
value in Coventry since 1996 (11.3C), which is the lowest monthly
maximum for March in records dating back to 1892

Steve Jackson
Bablake Weather Station
Coventry UK
www.bablakeweather.co.uk.