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It was mild and dry in March 2010. The mean temperature for the month was 20.2 degrees, about 1.3 degrees above normal. The total rainfall in the month was 17.5 millimetres, about 75 percent below the normal figure of 71.4 millimetres. The total bright sunshine duration was 110.1 hours, about 23 percent above the normal figure of 89.6 hours.
Under the influence of a humid maritime airstream, the weather in Hong Kong was mainly cloudy, warm and humid with fog for the first six days of the month.
A cold front crossed the coast of Guangdong on the morning of 7 March, bringing some rain patches and significantly cooler weather to the territory. Affected by the intense northeast monsoon behind the cold front, local temperatures dropped further the next day and the weather became cold on 9 and 10 March. The temperature at the Hong Kong Observatory dropped to a minimum of 8.1 degrees on 10 March, the lowest of the month. In the meantime, the northeast monsoon turned dry and it was fine in Hong Kong on 10 and 11 March. As the northeast monsoon moderated, the weather became cloudy and foggy for the ensuing four days with temperatures rising gradually to above 20 degrees on 15 March.
After the passage of another cold front across the south China coast early on 16 March, local weather was relatively cool while remaining cloudy for two days. Under the influence of a ridge of high pressure over southeast China, it became mainly fine on 18 and 19 March. A weak maritime airstream over the south China coastal areas brought misty weather for the territory on 20 March.
With the establishment of another ridge of high pressure over eastern China, the associated fresh northeast monsoon carried the sand and dust originated from sandstorms over northern China, to reach the coast of Guangdong on 21 March. Locally, visibility in the harbour generally dropped below 3000 metres later in the afternoon on that day. The visibility remained rather low on 22 March but improved slightly over the next two days as the winds turned to southerly.
A cold front moved southwards across the coast of Guangdong later on 24 March, bringing some rain and a significant drop in temperature of about 10 degrees in Hong Kong overnight. With a strong monsoon prevailing, it was mainly cloudy and cool with significant improvement in the visibility during the day on 25 March.
Under the influence of a dry northerly airstream, the weather turned fine and dry on 26 March. It remained rather dry with relative humidity decreasing generally to below 50 percent during the day on 27 and 28 March.
A fresh to strong easterly airstream prevailed over the southeastern China coastal areas bringing cloudy weather to Hong Kong on 29 and 30 March. With the moderation of the easterlies, it was rather warm with sunny periods on the last day of the month.
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