The numbers for March
Two stations, two periods, both named. Mixing them is how a levada walk goes wrong.
| Measure | Funchal | Areeiro |
|---|---|---|
| Mean daily maximum | 20.6 °C | 9.0 °C |
| Mean daily minimum | 14.3 °C | 3.4 °C |
| Precipitation | 62.3 mm | 304.0 mm |
| Days with 1 mm or more | 5.8 days | 15.3 days |
What the mountain is doing at the same time
In March Funchal reaches 20.6 °C by day. At Areeiro, on the central ridge, the same month averages 9.0 °C — a difference of 11.6 °C, and that is the daytime figure, not the night.
Rainfall separates them further: 62.3 mm in Funchal against 304.0 mm at Areeiro, 4.9 times as much.
People plan levada walks off the Funchal forecast. That is the mistake this section exists to prevent — the two stations are 25 km and 1500 m apart, and they are not describing the same day.
The sea
Off Funchal the monthly mean runs between 17.8 °C in March and 23.3 °C in September, averaging 20.2 °C over the year. IPMA has never printed a sea-temperature normal, so this is the closest honest figure there is.
IPMA measured 17.7 °C off Funchal in March 2011. That is one observed year, not a normal — it corroborates the shape of the curve and nothing more.
What’s on in March
Nothing on the regional calendar falls in March. That is a real answer, not a gap — it is the quietest kind of month to visit.
What March is actually like
March is the turn. Rain falls back to 62.3 mm and sunshine jumps to 172.2 hours, thirty more than February, while the daytime mean creeps up to 20.6 °C. The sea is at its annual floor of 17.8 °C, so this is the month when the air is pleasant and the water is not.
Three things worth checking before you book
“Madeira has no winter” is true at sea level and only there. Funchal records 0.0 days below 0 °C in every month of its normals. Areeiro’s February normal carries 3 nights below freezing, and that is the ground the levada walks cross.
The north really is wetter, by more than the guides say. Annual precipitation in the 1971–2000 normals: Funchal 596 mm, Santana on the north coast 1383 mm, Areeiro on the ridge 2620 mm.
The leste is real. It is an easterly off the Sahara, documented by IPMA, and it can push temperatures to about 35 °C and relative humidity down towards 5 % in the mountains. It usually lasts 3 days or fewer, and IPMA names February–April and August–October as its windows.