SPLASHES & FLASHES
Scotland basks in sunshine, but dramatic lightning storms cut power and ground flights
SCOTLAND’S blistering bank holiday weather shows no sign of cooling down and scorching temperatures are set to contue all week.
Some parts of the country are expected to hit 77F (25C) today to make the temperature 10C warmer than the average for the end of May.
The balmy weather is the result of Scotland becoming stuck between the jetstream circulating north of Iceland and thunderstorms creeping in from the near continent.
It means the West in particular will enjoy sunny spells and negligible rainfall until next weekend and even beyond.
Yesterday Scotland was hotter than 72F (22C) Essaouira, Morocco, with forecast temperatures set to beat the 77F (25C) hottest day of the year so far, set on May 7 in Roxburghshire.
Meanwhile, much of England and all of Wales has a flood warning today as thunderstorms generated by a heatwave in central Europe sweep across the English Channel.
Met Office spokesman Nicky Maxey said: ‘High pressure is holding everything at bay for Scotland, producing plenty of good sunny spells and pretty warm conditions.
‘Eastern coasts will expect things to be cooler but the Highlands look particularly good in the coming week.’
An exceptionally rare sizzle from Scandinavia saw Stornoway enjoy 15.7 hours of sunshine on Saturday.
Met Office forecaster Emma Salter said: ‘Scotland is having Britain’s best, sunniest and driest weather of the bank holiday weekend.
Scotland’s hottest day of the year is 25C [77F] – and it looked like 26C [79F] on Sunday and still around 26C on Tuesday.
‘Bizarrely, hot air is coming to us from Scandinavia, and we never normally say that.
‘It would have been bitterly cold a couple of months ago. But now the landmass has heated up, with highs 10C above average in Scandinavia, with their air coming to us via Denmark.’
The mercury hit 75F (24C) as early as 11.30am yesterday in Aviemore, Inverness-shire.
Miss Salter said Glasgow could top 77F (25C) or even 79F (26C) on Thursday and Friday, while Weather Outlook forecaster Brian Gaze said parts of the country could even reach 82F (28C).
He added: ‘It’s certainly not grim up north. Parts of Scotland could reach 28C by Monday, with 16 hours’ daily sunshine this weekend, while England’s South gets soaked.’
Earlier, Marks & Spencer had said it expected to sell 250,000 burgers and 100,000 Posh Dogs sausages over the weekend.
However, it was not all wall-towall sunshine yesterday. The A720 Edinburgh City Bypass saw delays yesterday morning, not helped by the North Sea fog.
But by the afternoon, almost all of the country was enjoying blue skies and barbecue-friendly temperatures.
Families headed for the parks and beaches and day trippers were soon filling up Loch Lomondside car parks.
At 11am, Traffic Scotland tweeted: ‘The sun is out and so are the cars and boats. Balmaha Car Park is almost full and spaces to park cars and boat trailers at the Duncan Mills Memorial Slipway [in Balloch] are filling up fast.’
The sun was also shining at the Carmunnock Highland Games, on the southern outskirts of Glasgow.
The city’s only conservation village appointed Game of Thrones actor Hafpor Julius Bjornsson as its chieftain.
Bjornsson – Europe’s Strongest Man for 2018, also known as The Mountain – took charge of proceedings attended by thousands of locals and visitors.
Elsewhere, as beaches witnessed a rush of visitors the Coastguard issued a warning to families visiting the seaside to avoid the use of inflatables.
It followed the rescue of a girl on Saturday afternoon off Irvine Beach Park in Ayrshire.
The wind caught her inflatable unicorn, carrying her out to sea away from her frantic family. Her father swam out to get her and both had to be helped by a rescuer wearing full emergency kit.
Kevin Paterson, station officer for the Ardrossan Coastguard Rescue Team, said: ‘This was an incredibly lucky escape for the young girl and her father after a sunny day at the beach quickly turned into an emergency.
‘These inflatables should only be used in swimming pools where there is no risk of being blown out to sea and there are lifeguards on duty.’
A family including a three-yearold girl were rescued by lifeboat after getting into difficulties while canoeing at sea off the Applecross peninsula in Ross-shire.
The hot spell caused problems for mountain rescue teams and firefighters as wildfires flared in the Highlands. Three large wildfires swept across rural areas in the West as a combination of soaring temperatures and wind fanned the flames.
Firefighters tried to contain a heath fire near Sligachan on the Isle of Skye and in Strathcarron, Wester Ross, while efforts were also under way to control a large wildfire in Upper Diabaig, Torridon, Ross-shire.
Police issued an appeal for anyone who may have witnessed anything suspicious to get in touch.
They are keen to trace two vans seen in Upper Diabaig and would like to speak to two men seen in a red van in the area and the occupants of a Dutch-registered camper van.
As thundery weather hit England and Wales, thousands of passengers were stranded at Stansted Airport following a lightning strike. More than 200 planes were delayed at the airport after lightning damaged its central fuelling system in the early hours.
Passengers angrily complained of being kept in the dark by airport and airline staff before being told to board planes, only to be stranded on the tarmac for up to four hours. Many were stranded abroad when their flight back to the UK was cancelled.
Thousands of homes were left without power after the storms swept the Midlands, Southern England and Wales.
However, much of the country marvelled at the spectacular scenes as 62,000 lightning strikes lit up the sky, with one bolt striking London’s Shard skyscraper.