A CHANGE, at last! For the first time since August, we had a month that was not dominated by south-westerlies.

They were as strong and relentless as in recent months but only until the 17th. Then and for the remainder of March, winds switched into a north-easterly quarter.

Despite this, it was another mild month, though by relatively modest standards when compared to the previous six months. Temperatures across the region were about 0.5 to 1C (1-2F) above average. It was the warmest March for just two years. March 2006 was the last month to be significantly colder than normal.

It was quite dry in the North-East with between half and threequarters of the expected rainfall. This made it the seventh March in the past eight with amounts of rain generally below the norm, with last year's again the odd one out. It was the driest March since 2004, though for one or two spots up in the Dales, it was the most arid for ten years.

The powerful south-westerly flow that had characterised much of the autumn and winter continued into March. Depressions raced across the Atlantic between Scotland and Iceland every two or three days.

There was a gap on the 3rd, which allowed clear skies in the evening. With no more than a gentle wind, conditions were ideal for viewing the total eclipse of the moon.

This was fortunate as frontal systems were particularly active during the next two days with the Sunday widely being the wettest day of the month. After this, with pressure building over the near Continent and diverting the lows well to the north of Britain, fronts became weak and yielded only spits and spots of rain. The breeze was still brisk at times but to counter this there were some pleasant sunny periods.

The third weekend saw probably the most intense depression of the winter scream across the Shetlands. The Orkneys and the far north of Scotland suffered their wildest gale for several years with a steady wind reaching hurricane force, that is over 72mph (63knots, 117kph) and gusts of up to 107mph (93knots, 174kph).

Thankfully, we had simply another good blow but, as the low hurried away eastwards to cause havoc in northern Europe, we felt its backlash as a northerly blast direct from the Arctic swept southwards in the early hours of the 18th. Around midnight the temperature was a balmy 11C (52F) but, within three hours, it had plummeted to 3C (37F) and showers readily turned to snow, falling mainly to the east of the A19.

So winter put in another appearance, as in all three months of the preceding season. As before though, it was never severe and lasted just three or four days but, for some, it did have a bit more of a bite this time.

Under the cloudless skies to the west, a few locations had their coldest nights for a year, whereas on the Tuesday towards the coast, the snow depth in parts was greater than for all the other falls during the winter put together. Nevertheless, with about 5cm (2ins) at most, except over the highest hills, it was hardly overwhelming.

Milder Atlantic air tried to nudge its way eastwards later on the Wednesday. However, as the front ahead of it stalled over us as high pressure developed over Scandinavia, the Thursday was notably drizzly and gloomy. Eventually, winds picked up from the north-east and kept largely in this direction for the rest of the month. These offered a striking variety of weather, not only from day to day but from place to place, too.

To begin with, it stayed dull with further drizzle at times but, by the final Sunday, drier air had moved in and skies cleared.

MARCH TEMPERATURES & RAINFALL AT CARLTON IN CLEVELAND

Mean Maximum: 10.1C, 50F (+0.8C, +1.5F);

Mean Minimum: 3.0C, 37.5F (+0.4C, +0.7F);

Highest Maximum: 15.5C, 60F, 26th;

Lowest Minimum: -2.8C, 27F, 21st;

Total Rainfall: 37mm, 1.45ins (-12mm, -0.5ins);

Wettest Day: 14mm, 0.55ins, 4th and number of Rain Days, with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 11 (-4).

(Figures in brackets show the difference from the 23-year mean, 1984-2006).