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The local forecast up until 1800hr on Friday 19th March 2010.>For the first time in many months, our region has been bathed in warm tropical air from the Azores in the mid-Atlantic, so we were able to enjoy the mildest day of the year so far on Wednesday, and the warmest night in Coventry last night since the 24th of November last year. Although it will remain mild through the coming weekend, it will be much more unsettled by the looks of it, with some rain at times, and it does look as if it will be cooler next week, though not especially cold, and it should remain frost free. In the meantime, it should be dry on Thursday with a thin high cloud cover making any sunshine rather hazy, though it should be pleasant enough out there nevertheless. It will be mild again today despite a brisk southerly breeze, with maximum temperatures around 15°C, well above average for the 18th of March in Coventry (9.8°C). Cloud will be thickening later this afternoon to threaten some showery rain for a time this evening, after which time, skies will clear to allow minima to fall back to around 6°C by dawn on Friday. Friday should be dry and mild with prolonged sunny spells with maximum temperatures around 13°C in a brisk south-westerly breeze.
Outlook - rain on Friday night, and again at time on Saturday perhaps. Did you know..........? Last week was the coldest second week of March in our region since 1988. Although a little milder over the weekend, temperatures over the first fortnight of March were still 2.9C below average for Coventry. Although cold, it was also dry and sunny; we only recorded 6% of the normal early March rainfall in this dry spell, and 90% more sunshine than is normal in this two week period. **If this page does not update, and you need a local forecast, try telephoning our answerphone on 02476 223141** |
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| Just for the record, looking back through the archives, we find that...........
.............................it was very warm with a maximum temperature of 20.5°C on this day in 1990, and on the 18th March 2005 with a high of 19.3°C in Coventry. ............................by contrast it was cold on the 18th in 1954 with a maximum temperature of 3.9°C. ............................31.3mm of rain fell in Coventry on the 19th March 1919, with rain falling as snow by evening. ............................it was very sunny on the 19th March 2000 with 10.5 hours of Spring sunshine in the city. ............................. | Extracts from a "typical year" in CoventryMarch - A "month of many weathers"March is traditionally a month of active weather; after 6 months of continuous winter darkness,the North Pole is at its coldest, while the Equator is at its hottest, with the sun at its strongest. Squeezed in the centre, the mid-latitudes suffer from potential extremes of weather. Storms are frequent early month, while mid-month may be calm and dry. Night time minima are often as cold as winter, while at the equinox, days can be warm for the first time in the year. Extreme diurnal temperature ranges are therefore quite common. Winter however, can frequently last well into March; witness years like 1947, 1963 and 1979. As the days lenghthen, so the temperatures rise accordingly. The warmest day averages 15°C, though 22°C was recorded in 1922. By contrast, the coldest night will usually register -4°C; in 1947 however, the minimum reached as low as -15.6°C! Only 7 days are usually classified as wet, though rainfall intensities are greater now. The city regularly totals over 100 hours of March sunshine, with the sunniest day likely to record 9.5 hours. March 2003 was the sunniest March on record with 174.1 hours of sunshine, a total more typical of a summer month! By comparison there was just 41.6 hours of sunshine during March 1984 - quite a difference! Looking at long term trends, March does not conform terribly well to global warming theory! One of the warmest decades of the last century was the 1920's (6.4°C), though the 1990s did average 7.5°C. The first nine years of this century have seen March average just 6.7°C, so has local warming peaked? The wettest decade during March in the last century was the 1980s (62.1mm); since 1990, March however has become a drier month so far this century with an average of 41.7mm per year. So what of Spring in Coventry?Changes in temperature in spring are slow, as the UK is surrounded by sea; in the Baltic to our east and in the seas south of Greenland, melting sea ice further slows the warming process. Even as the days lengthen and the sun strengthens the still cool sea holds back the rise in temperatures. It is therefore, a long season. Spring is the driest of our seasons and only summer records more seasonal sunshine. During the 20th century, springs were getting colder up until the 1980s, but over the past thirty years or so, there has been a two degree rise in average spring temperatures. 1992 and 2007 were the warmest springs on record in Coventry.
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| Coventry Statistics
Please Select which Statistics you would like to view. The Statistics for Last MonthThe Statistics for Last Season The Statistics for Last Year 30 year Monthly Averages 1971-2000 A Typical Year in Coventry Monthly Wind Data & Wind Roses Since 2001 Monthly Weather Records back to 1977 Average Monthly Temperatures Since 1892 Monthly Sunshine Totals Since 1894 Monthly Rainfall Totals Since 1870 |
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