The winter that never was

This past winter has been the warmest since the Meteorological Office started keeping records in 1922.

The Met Office released temperatures for March yesterday, closing the figures for the winter season and revealing that at an average of 14.8ºC, winter was the warmest in the past 85 years.

Total rainfall amounted to 106.5 mm, which made it the fourth driest winter on record.

March also had warmer than average temperatures, at 14.3ºC, half a degree higher than the norm. The warmest March since 1923 was in 2001 with 16.9ºC and the coolest was 1953's with a mean of 11.4ºC.

March nights, with a mean of 11.3ºC, were also warmer than average. The lowest temperature was eight degrees Celsius. Last month was also one of the cloudiest Marches of the past 30 years with an average of only six hours and 36 minutes of bright sunshine a day.

Rain fell on 13 days last month with a total of 67.6 mm - 25 mm more than the average for the month. The average March rainfall of every 10-year period since 1978 has seen a steady decrease.

The wettest March on record was that of 1925 when 178 mm drenched the islands while the driest was that of 1977 when a few drops of rain produced just 0.4 of a millimetre.

The wind last month was also much lighter than the average for March with a mean speed of 15.4 kilometres per hour. Only five other Marches had lighter mean speeds than this year's.