General March Weather

[Michael]

looks ugly if it sits east of us like most do and parallel to the eastcoast

[spwill]

Yes, some low pressure in the models for next week, see how it looks in a few days time.

[David]

More like a summer afternoon here with sunny blue skies and NE sea breeze, max 25C.

[David]

More like a summer afternoon here with sunny blue skies and NE sea breeze, max 25C.

Some interesting jumps in humidity and dewpoint here today. Dewpoint dropped to 11C at 1.50pm just before the sea breeze developed.It then maxed out at 18C around 4.40pm, before dropping again when the breeze changed SW.

[Nev]

Below are some preliminary main-centre rainfall totals for this year's first 3 months…

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2014 Rainfall (mm) and YTD departures from their 1981-2010 normals ℅ NIWA

Site                      Jan      Feb      Mar         Total

Auckland, Mangere          42       11       31        84   38%
Auckland Aero              42       11       25        78   37% 
Tauranga Aero              50       64       43       157   60% 
Hamilton Aero              39       12        6        57   24% 
Hamilton, Ruakura          34       15       11        60   26% 
Wellington, Kelburn       133       48       63       244  106%
Christchurch Aero          12       52      123       187  150% 
Dunedin, Musselburgh       59       57       98       214  104% 

It looks like Hamilton Aero's 6.0mm for this month will be its 2nd lowest March rainfall since records began in 1935, while Ruakura's 10.9mm will be its 3rd lowest since records began in 1906. Both sites also look to have recorded their 2nd driest ever first-quarters - seems only 1978 was drier at Hamilton Aero, and 2013 at Ruakura.

In contrast, Chch Aero's 123mm this month was about 270% of its normal March rainfall.

[Skywatcher]

For my station:

Ave min: 10.1C
Ave max: 20.1C
Mean: 14.3C (about normal)

Min: 5.8C on 1st
Max: 28.0C on 17th

Rain: 122.8mm on 7 days with 40.2mm on 16th (YTD 172.4mm). Both month and day records for March.

[jamie]

For me

Ave min: 9.5C
Ave max: 23.7C
Mean: 16.4C

Min: 4.5C on 3rd
Max: 26.5C on 31st

Rain: 19.2mm

[NZstorm]

Rickys Grey Lynn station averaged 18C with min 13.7C max 23.7C.

[David]

Rickys Grey Lynn station averaged 18C with min 13.7C max 23.7C.

Pretty similar stats here. Avg max 23.6C, avg min 13.5C, and an overall average of 18.3C.
I recorded 40mm rain for the month, making 97mm for the year to date. At this time last year we were on 53mm for the year.

[Nev]

Another mostly dry month, apart from eastern parts of the S.I. Temps near normal and mostly sunny…

Mar 2014 Climate Anomaly Maps (NIWA).gif

Some preliminary March 2014 temp and rainfall figures for the main centres…

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March 2014 Average Temps, Rainfall and departures from their 1981-2010 normals ℅ NIWA

Site                      T-max °C       T-min °C       T-mean °C    Rainfall mm

Auckland, Mangere        22.8  +0.4     14.1  -0.5     18.5  ±0.0      31   36% 
Auckland Aero            22.9  +0.3     14.0  -0.9     18.4  -0.4      25   34% 
Tauranga Aero            23.2  +0.7     13.3  -0.5     18.2  ±0.0      43   44% 
Hamilton Aero            24.6  +1.7      9.0  -2.0     16.8  -0.1       6    7% 
Hamilton, Ruakura        24.6  +1.9     10.3  -1.1     17.4  +0.3      11   14% 
Wellington, Kelburn      18.7  -0.4     12.2  -0.4     15.5  -0.3      63   74% 
Christchurch Aero        18.7  -1.6      9.0  -0.6     13.8  -1.1     123  269% 
Dunedin, Musselburgh     17.4  +0.1      9.8  -0.4     13.6  -0.1      98  153% 

[Bradley]

Top 3 coldest March for Christchurch in the past 20 years, very impressive!

[einzack]

My station:

Ave min: 8.2°C
Ave max: 23.6°C
Mean: 15.9°C

Min: 2.1°C on 4th
Max: 29.1°C on 14th

Rain: 49.2mm

[melja]

Yeah another colder than average month in Chch, think that's 4 or 5 in a row for me here in Rangiora and to top it off it was wet.
Mean temp for me was 13.6C and -1.4 down on Avg
119mm of Rain

[NZstorm]

Hamilton airport numbers are interesting. The effects of dry ground and clearer skies causing larger diurnal differences. Mins down 2C and maximums up 1.7C.

[Manukau heads obs]

Was reading a study of deciduous trees
That shows autumn's are getting later
And to a lesser degree springs getting earlier
Around the world
Now that's proof of global warming
That cant be accused of manipulated temperature records etc

[jamie]

Hamilton airport numbers are interesting. The effects of dry ground and clearer skies causing larger diurnal differences. Mins down 2C and maximums up 1.7C.

and just the general lack of moist cloudy sky.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

For the records 206.4mm of rain here for the month.
Yes. I did re-check and that was the total.

[Nev]

Here's NIWA's preliminary, 'March 2014 National Climate Summary'.


The national average temp of 15.3C was 0.5C below normal.

The month's highest temp of 30.8C was recorded at Wallaceville (Upper Hutt), and the lowest of -3.3C was again recorded at Pukaki Airport.

Auckland was 1 of 6 sites that recorded their second sunniest March on record.

The 122.8mm recorded at NIWA's Riccarton, Christchurch site (Kyle St) to 9am on the 5th was apparently 'the greatest one day March rainfall on record for the city', and its 199.6mm for the month was reported to be Christchurch's wettest March on record (although I see NIWA's Burwood site (Windsor) recorded 203.1mm in March 1979?).

[RWood]

Here's NIWA's preliminary, 'March 2014 National Climate Summary'.


The national average temp of 15.3C was 0.5C below normal.

The month's highest temp of 30.8C was recorded at Wallaceville (Upper Hutt), and the lowest of -3.3C was again recorded at Pukaki Airport.

Auckland was 1 of 6 sites that recorded their second sunniest March on record.

The 122.8mm recorded at NIWA's Riccarton, Christchurch site (Kyle St) to 9am on the 5th was apparently 'the greatest one day March rainfall on record for the city', and its 199.6mm for the month was reported to be Christchurch's wettest March on record (although I see NIWA's Burwood site (Windsor) recorded 203.1mm in March 1979?).

The standout March sunshine total for earlier Auckland sites was the 259 hours at the Airport in 1986.