We’re UK’s wettest, driest, cloudiest and sunniest place!
Scotland’s infamous weather at its most topsy-turvy
ScOTlAnd is often described as a country where you can experience all four seasons in one day.
now it has emerged that the nation was home to the wettest, driest, sunniest – and dullest – locations in the UK during the first half of this month.
Stornoway Airport turned out to be the sunniest place in Britain, while a weather station just outside Glasgow was the dullest.
Grahame Madge of the Met Office said: ‘We were quite stunned when these figures emerged. Of course, it’s only for half of the month and things could even themselves out by the end of April.
‘Still, it’s remarkable that places not so far apart can provide the UK’s highest and lowest figures.’
The disparity can be traced to the same weather phenomenon which led to the Beast from the East storm at the end of February and early March.
Meteorologists say a rare polar event known as sudden stratospheric warming had the effect of ‘reversing’ our tradi- tional weather patterns from west to east.
The Met Office news blog said: ‘So far, April’s weather is highlighting a month of contrasts, and perhaps nowhere is this contrast more apparent than in Scotland.
‘Between April 1 and 15, parts of Scotland have seen both the most and least rainfall of any station in the UK, when compared with the long-term average (1981-2010).’
Edinburgh’s Botanic Garden has so far been drenched with two and a half inches of rain this month (63.4mm), equivalent to more than one and a half times the full monthly average for April.
Meanwhile, loch Glascarnoch near Garve, Ross-shire, had less than half an inch of rainfall, making it the driest location in the UK for the first half of April.
Elsewhere, most of England and Wales have had a relatively wet start to April, with some areas in the north-east already at or above the average full month rainfall.
While Stornoway Airport on the isle of lewis enjoyed 83 hours of sunshine, Bishopton in Renfrewshire had only 20 hours, making it the dullest place in the UK.
Meanwhile, temperatures continue to be below average. Met Office spokesman dr Mark Mccarthy said: ‘When you drill down into the detail of the temperature records, you can clearly see that cloudy and wet conditions have exerted a strong influence on the month’s climate records.
‘This helps to suppress daytime maximum temperatures, while the same cloud overnight has an insulating effect, helping keep night-time temperatures elevated.’
Scotland is expected to enjoy a warm end to the week, with temperatures set to reach 64F (20c) tomorrow and on Friday.