Weather in Leiria in March

A good month. March works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs average 18.4 °C, lows 8.1 °C, and rain falls on 11 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

March ranks 8 of 12 in Leiria: past the worst of the year but short of June, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 11 days, 2 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average March reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 28.7 °C and the coldest night fell to -2.7 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 36 mm — roughly 51% of the month's rain in one day.

This is the volatile part. March rainfall has ranged from 11 mm to 230 mm across the twenty years measured — a 219 mm spread around an average of 71 mm. The average is real but almost no individual March looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind is light at 7.9 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 77%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How March sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 2.4 °C warmer than February, and April adds another 2.2 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in March

11.9 hours of daylight, gaining 1.3 hours across the month. That is between Leiria's extremes of 15 and 9.4 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 14.3 °C in March — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 19.9 °C in August and bottoms out at 14.3 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

March in Leiria versus nearby

If Leiria is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Aveiro is the weaker option in March — 2 °C cooler, 1 day more rain. Lisbon is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.8 °C cooler, 1 day less rain.

So: March works, with June the better month by 18 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Leiria

See all twelve months in Leiria, or where else to go in March.