The meteorological situation in March 2020 was characterised by more or less normal monthly mean surface pressure in the majority of the EFAS domain and below normal in the Arctic. A clear majority of regions experienced monthly precipitation totals close to average. Positive anomalies were found only in some regions. The monthly mean air temperature was slightly below the long-term average in the western regions of the EFAS domain and showed positive anomalies in the eastern parts.

At the beginning of March 2020, a strong low-pressure system was located over northern Great Britain and Ireland and another low-pressure system over the arctic coast of Russia, while a high-pressure system influenced the central and eastern Mediterranean region towards the Black Sea. A trough developed from the first mentioned low-pressure system to the Bay of Biscay and swayed to the northern central Mediterranean region. It brought a lot of rain along its track. At the surface, it split into several cores, which weakened soon together with the high-pressure system mentioned before. One more high-pressure system developed over northern Scandinavia and moved eastward to Russia while strengthening. Another low-pressure system developed over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and moved via the English Channel and central Europe towards eastern Europe. The highest daily precipitation totals along its track were observed in eastern France. The Azores high extended eastward and another low-pressure system moved from the Atlantic Ocean south of Greenland and Iceland towards the Norwegian Sea. In the next days, an old and weak trough over the central Mediterranean region got active again and developed two cores at the surface.

The western core moved southward to northern Africa and later eastward to the Middle East bringing significant precipitation amounts along its track. The eastern core brought intense precipitation to the Aegean Sea and vanished soon. Another low-pressure system moved from the Atlantic Ocean via the Faroe Islands and Scandinavia to Russia. The Azores High extended again eastward and an additional core developed over eastern Europe and getting later a separate high-pressure system. A steep trough formed between the new high and the Azores high extending from Great Britain and Ireland towards the Iberian Peninsula. Meanwhile an upper-level low-pressure system was cut-off at the same time as a bridge between the Azores and eastern Europe high-pressure systems developed. Another cut-off took place at the Atlantic Ocean and both upper-level low-pressure systems were active around the Iberian Peninsula and western northern Africa causing heavy precipitation. Cold air moved at the south-eastern side of the high-pressure system over eastern Europe via the Balkans to the central Mediterranean region causing a recurrence of winter with notable amounts of snow at the Balkans. This cold air initiated the formation of a low-pressure system over the central Mediterranean region, which was active for some days and caused heavy precipitation at several locations around the Mediterranean Sea. During these days, a high-pressure system moved towards Iceland. By the end of the month, several low-pressure systems were routed south of the “Icelandic high” towards southwest Europe.

In March 2020, the highest precipitation totals were observed in south-eastern Turkey, the Northern Apennines, the Pyrenees, southeast Spain, western Scotland and the western Norwegian coast (Figure 1). On the other hand, no or nearly no precipitation fell at the southern edge of northern Africa in the EFAS domain and to the east of the Sea of Azov. Monthly precipitation totals showed only small deviations from the long term means in March 2020 for most parts of the EFAS domain (Figure 2). Larger regions with negative precipitation anomalies occurred from southern Poland and the Black Sea eastward, and with positive anomalies over south-eastern Spain and the Middle East.

The monthly mean air temperature ranged from -13.4°C to 23.7°C with the highest values in the southern parts and lowest in the northern and mountainous parts of the EFAS domain (Figure 3). Air temperature anomalies ranged from -5.1°C to 9.9°C (Figure 4). Monthly mean air temperature anomalies showed a gradient from below normal at the western side of the EFAS domain to above normal at the eastern side of the EFAS domain.