Temperature

In the lower stratosphere, the global temperature was 0.53C (0.95F) cooler than the average, which ranked as the second coolest March during the satellite period of record which began in 1979. Both the Northern and Southern Hemispheric temperatures were also below the average, with negative departures of 0.58C (1.0F) and 0.48C (0.86F), respectively.

Lower tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature data are collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by NASA and the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.