HOTTER THAN ROME
And the sunny and steamy spell is set to last all week!
FORECASTERS may be predicting a ten-day heatwave, but Scots were not wasting any time yesterday in making the most of the sunshine.
Met Office officials say this week is likely to see the highest temperatures of the year, as the mercury climbs towards 86F (30C) in some parts of Scotland.
With the sunshine already hot enough to buckle pavements, forecasters predict that temperatures will be higher than 68F (20C) over each of the next ten days.
The top temperature north of the Border so far this year was the 81F (27.5C) recorded in Achnagart, in Ross and Cromarty, on May 29.
The highest yesterday was at Balmoral, Aberdeenshire, where the 79F (26.4C) temperature was hotter than some holiday destinations, including the Italian capital of Rome and Valletta, Malta.
In Edinburgh, part of the pavement at the Kirkgate shopping centre buckled due to the heat. Local councillor Gordon Munro wrote on Twitter: ‘It’s so hot in Leith the pavement in the Kirkgate is buckling.’ A spokesman for Edinburgh City Council said it was not local authority land.
ScotRail, meanwhile, put a speed limit on trains amid fears the line could buckle, as tracks did last month at Wishaw, in Lanarkshire.
A rail spokesman said the speed restriction was being enforced because of high track temperatures, with disruption on the Lanark to Glasgow Central service expected until late last night.
Rachael West, of the Met Office, said things would only get hotter as the week progressed, with a potential 82F (28C) today and even a 84F (29C) on Thursday.
She said: ‘High pressure has been sitting rigid over the UK for so long, it just pushes up temperatures day by day.
‘Thursday looks like being the hottest day of the week, with 29C possible before things cool off slightly on Friday.’
Parts of the Scottish Borders and inland areas of Aberdeenshire soaked up temperatures of 77F (25C) and above yesterday.
Hundreds flocked to Portobello beach to enjoy the sunshine as Edinburgh toasted in the 75F (24C) heat.
After a weekend of wall-to-wall sunshine around the UK, temperatures in London’s St James’s Park peaked at 85F (29.4C) yesterday, in line with sunny holiday hotspots in southern Spain. The heat prompted deer in Richmond Park, outside London, to cool off in a pond.
Only the Western Isles missed out, as temperatures remained a cool 54-55F (12C-13C) below thick cloud cover.
Temperatures in Scotland are expected to peak towards the end of this week, before the air begins to cool slightly in the north of the country.
Forecasters have warned of isolated thunder storms during the first week of July,
‘Pushes up temperatures day by day’
while temperatures in coastal areas are expected to dip as sea breezes blow in.
The hot weather yesterday prompted Police Scotland to issue a fresh warning against bathing in quarries and rivers after a young man drowned in Ayrshire last month. Mark O’Brien, 28, died after jumping into the water at Craigiehill Quarry, near Kilmarnock.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘The glorious sunshine can make it very tempting to go swimming in an open water area, however many people don’t realise they could be putting their lives at risk. Open water can be extremely cold and can cause your body to cramp, some people even go into shock.
‘Very cold water can also have an impact on your ability to swim and you could tire out quicker than normal.’
The TUC has called on bosses to make sure staff working outdoors are protected.
The union’s general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: ‘We all love to see the sunshine, but working outdoors in sweltering conditions can be unbearable and dangerous.
‘Bosses must ensure their staff are protected with regular breaks, lots of fluids, plenty of sunscreen and the right protective clothing.’
The heatwave comes as a shortage of CO2 gas across Europe has caused problems in the production of certain beers, including Amstel, Kronenbourg and John Smiths.
But the Dublin-based drinks company C&C Group assured customers that Tennent’s Lager was ‘currently unaffected’.