March was a cloudy, wet but warm month in Queenstown, according to weather recorder David Crow.
He said 81.8mm of rain fell in March, 14% above the 71.6mm March average.
Queenstown had 10 days of rain; the heaviest downpour, of 29.2mm, on March 1.
It also had a fierce thunderstorm on March 21, which cut power to homes in the district.
"It was the longest thunderstorm I can remember in this district.
"It lasted for 5.25 hours," he said.
Temperatures were also "quite substantially" above average for March.
Last month's average temperature was 15degC, well above the 14degC average normally seen in March.
"Temperatures have been well above average every month now for quite some time," he said.
The highest maximum temperature was 29.8degC, on March 8, which was the second-highest March temperature ever recorded.
The highest ever was 30.7degC, on March 19, 2008.
The lowest minimum temperature last month was 4.7degC, on March 13.
Sunshine hours were also below normal last month.
Mr Crow recorded 166.8 hours of sunshine, compared with the March average of 184.3 hours.
He said the weather would turn colder in April, and the first frost had been recorded on Monday morning.
The temperature was -2degC yesterday morning in Queenstown, but Arrowtown's frost was colder at -3.6degC with an air temperature of -0.8degC.
