March 2019:
March 2019 has been the equal 7th warmest at 9.3°C
average temperature, with 1991 and 1990, since records began in 1853.
There is one year of missing data in 1890. The equal warmest March's have
been 2017, 2012 and 1998 at 9.8°C
The average temperature for March 2019 was 3.2°C warmer than the average
temperature for March 2018.
Rainfall was just over the 30 year average for the city at 74.5 mm but for
the last 13 days of the month there was no measurable rainfall.
Also in contrast to 2018 March this year saw no snowfall and there were no
frosts.
It was a windy month and South Westerly winds predominated on 26 out of 31
days. This is the highest incidence of SW winds in a single month
since 28 days were SW in July 2016. With regard the average wind speed of
7.2 mph in March 2019 it was the highest average wind speed of all months
since February 2016 which was also recorded at 7.2 mph. The highest average
wind speed for any month was 10 mph in March 2008.
The average wind gust speed of 27 mph was the 2nd highest for March. The
highest was 32 mph in 2008.
The low pressure of 982.4 mb on the 6th March was the lowest of any month
since 970.2 mb recorded on 10th December 2017.
It was the sunniest March with 41.4% maximum sunshine since March 2014 when
44% was recorded.
The highest hourly solar radiation of 707.7 W/m2 at 12:00 hours on the 26th
was the highest for March since 2013.
The
2018 Annual summary is here:
http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2018annual.htm
For the full monthly summary please go here:
http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2019mar.htm
The
Meteorological site is situated in an urban housing area approximately one
mile to the south of the Centre of Bristol.
This area is in a district called Totterdown.
Statistical correlations with the Bristol
Meteorological Office site, that was
less than two miles to the North and was
situated on top of a City Centre office block, were generally good with
rainfall and barometric data particularly close.
The site of the station is approximately 34 metres above sea level with the
manual instruments mounted in a Stevenson screen. The screen is sited
centrally in a small concreted garden area. A Snowdon
rain gauge is mounted correctly in the ground but does not have the full open
space required around it. A Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus automatic weather station (AWS) was
added in May 2005 and this is mounted 4 feet above a concrete shelter. The
wind data is gathered automatically from a Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus anemometer which is
sited 3.3 metres (10 feet) above the house top.
Manual observations are still taken at approximately 09:00 hours GMT every
day for rainfall and cloud cover. Rainfall manually recorded in the Snowdon rain gauge is entered for the previous day. The
wind data is constantly logged and automatically reset at 24:00 hours GMT
every day (in the summer BST -1 hour. The Davis rainfall tipping bucket was recalibrated in November 2005 and is now
consistently under 3% under recording (an improvement from installation in
May 2005 when 10% was more
typically the norm).
Since the arrival of the Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus equipment in May 2005 temperatures, humidity and barometric
pressure are recorded from the new equipment. These figures will be more
accurate and will be taken at exactly 09:00 GMT (in the summer BST -1 hour)
as the data is now logged to a computer.
By default the Davis
equipment records every parameter for the 24 hour period 00:00 to 23:59 BST
or GMT. Data analysis will enable manual data extraction of temperatures and
rainfall to 09:00 GMT (adjusted in the summer). Due to the 0.2 mm (tipping
bucket) measurements of precipitation recorded by the Davis equipment the
Snowdon rain gauge will still be used due to its greater accuracy (see
above).