Weather in Malaga – March 2019

The average maximum temperature during March 2019 in Malaga was 19.5 Celsius (67F), and that was 0.4 Celsius (<1F) above normal for the time of year.  The average minimum temperature was 11.9 Celsius (54F), and that was 0.7 Celsius (1F) above normal for March. Overall, it was the mildest March for 11 years.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was  26.6 Celsius (80F) on the 17th, but there were a further 11 days when the temperature rose above 20 Celsius (68F), including 5 consecutive days at the beginning of March. Although the 17th stood out as the warmest day of the month, the 4th had a high of 23.7 Celsius (75F) and 2 other days, the 2nd and 13th, had maxima above 23 Celsius (73F). The cool sea played a significant role in determining the maximum temperature on many days during March, especially later in the month. On 15 days the temperature failed to reach 19 Celsius (66F), but only 3 of these somewhat cooler days occurred before the 18th. On 6 occasions the temperature remained below 17 Celsius (63F), including 4 consecutive days beginning on the 20th. In fact the 20th was the coolest day with a high of 16.0 Celsius (61F). However, the 21st, 28th and 30th each had highs of 16.1 Celsius (61F).

There were no particularly mild nights during March but on the 18th the temperature only fell to 15.3 Celsius (60F). There were a further 6 nights when the temperature stayed above 14 Celsius (57F), including 4 consecutive nights commencing on the 27th. The coolest nights were mainly during the early part of March with the 6 nights with minima below 10 Celsius (50F) all occurring between the 8th and 16th. Only 1 night had a minimum temperature below 8 Celsius (46F) and that was the 16th when 7.7 Celsius (46F) was recorded.

The sea temperature was around 15 or 16 Celsius (60F) throughout the month.

There were only 19.5 millimetres (0.8 ins.) of rain during March, and that was only 34% of the average for the month. It was in stark contrast to March 2018 when over 170 millimetres (6.7 ins.) of rain were measured. Rain only fell on  4 days, and this was half the average for March. A few showery bursts of rain occurred on the 6th, but only 0.5 millimetres (o.02 ins.) were recorded. Late evening rain occurred on the 19th with showers occuring in the early hours of the 20th. Only 3.3 millimetres (0.1 ins.) were recorded and then there were many more dry days. A combination of rain, heavy at times, in the morning, and showers in the evening, on the 31st, more than doubled the total for the year so far. The 15.7 millimetres (0.6 ins.) that fell was gratefully received by all the suffering vegetatioin in, and around, Malaga.

Thunder

There was no thunder heard in west Malaga during March.

Unusually for a Spring month, east or southeasterly winds  were dominant, these blowing on a total of 21 days. The normally dominant northwesterly wind was only blowing for the majority of 10 days, with only 2 of these northwesterly days occurring after mid month. It was also unusually windy, especially during the east-southeasterlies in the  latter part of March. On 11 days the wind gusts exceeded 20 knots. with 8 of the windiest days occurring between the 20th and 28th. On the 21st a gust of 30 knots (34 mph) was recorded.

No fog was observed  in west Malaga during March.

Reporting Station	Highest Temp	Lowest Temp	Rain Total (mm)	Wettest	Rain days
Malaga Airport	27.8	6.7	20	17	4
Granada Airport	26.0	-0.9	16	11	4
Almeria	24.8	8.3	16	11	4
Seville	28.1	4.4	5	4	2
Cordoba	28.2	2.9	15	12	2
Jerez de la Frontera	28.2	3.1	13	6	4
Murcia	28.9	5.2	18	17	2

Climatology for March

Reporting Station	Extreme High Temp	Extreme Low Temp	Average Rain (mm)	Extreme Wettest day (mm)	Average Rain days
Malaga Airport	31.4	-1.2	49	102	4
Granada Airport	30.0	-7.6	30	43	5
Almeria	27.2	2.6	15	36	3
Seville	30.8	-2.0	38	75	5
Cordoba	30.6	-4.2	40	80	5
Jerez de la Frontera	30.6	-2.4	42	60	5
Murcia	33.6	-4.2	30	46	3