Weather records tumble in March – it was the sunniest ever

March 2014 was warm, dry and the sunniest March since formal records began in 1901, weather bureau Weeronline.nl said on Monday.

The sun shone every day but two – March 17 and 18 – taking the total sunshine hours to 205. The previous record – 198 hours of sunshine – dates from 2003, the website said.

The temperature, an average 8.4 Celsius, is in the top three – the record 8.8 Celsius was in 1991. The warmest day was March 20 when it reached 21.2 Celsius at the De Bilt weather station. The average temperature during the day – 13.8 Celsius – is also a record.

There was also much less rain than normal – 30 mm, compared with double that in an average March. Most of it fell on March 21.

The dry, warm weather will continue to Thursday this week, but the sun will find it difficult to break through the cloud.

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