Weather in Maple Ridge in March

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, March is the one to avoid. You should expect rain on 21 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

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

Rain on 21 of the month's 31 days, 5 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 9.8 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 5 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 20.4 °C and the coldest night fell to -10 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 58 mm — roughly 37% of the month's rain in one day.

March is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest March on record still delivered 290 mm against 35 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 157 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 2.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 85%, which at 9.8 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How March sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 2.6 °C warmer than February, and April adds another 3.4 °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

11.8 hours of daylight, gaining 1.8 hours across the month. That is between Maple Ridge's extremes of 16.2 and 8.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 22.9 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

March in Maple Ridge versus nearby

If Maple Ridge is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Vancouver is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.7 °C cooler, 1 day less rain. Nanaimo is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days less rain.

So: March is a compromise. August is 57 points better and is what Maple Ridge is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Maple Ridge

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