March was the second sunniest on record, according to the Ronaldsway Met Office’s monthly summary.

With the second half of March being dominated by high pressure, there was less rain and more sun than average for the month.

A change in the airmass origin at the end of the month brought some colder conditions, and ended the month with a little hill snow.

The mean daytime maximum was 10.6°C, which is over a degree above the long term average. The warmest day was the 26th, with 14.8°C.

The lowest air temperature was 0.7°C on the morning of the 1st, so no air frost during the month, but there were 12 nights with a ground frost.

A total of 39.4mm of rainfall was collected in the gauge, which is about 40% below the long term average for March.

The wettest day was the 12th with 14.8mm.

And a total of 185.4 hours of sunshine was burnt onto the cards, which is about 60 hours above average, and second only to the March of 1955.

The sunniest day was the 31st with 11.3 hours.

The mean wind speed over the month was 11.2 knots – two knots below the long-term average.

The strongest gust recorded at Ronaldsway was 37 knots/43mph on the 7th.

No hail, thunder or fog was observed at Ronaldsway, but other parts of the island did see some snow showers on the 30th and 31st.

Look ahead to this weekend’s weather on page four.