Scotland’s hotter than Hawaii!
But today may see our highest temperatures ever as the sun keeps shining
SCOTLAND’S summer heatwave saw the hottest June day in more than 20 years yesterday.
Temperatures soared as high as 88F (31.3C) – which made it even hotter than Hawaii, where Honolulu could only manage a cloudy 82.4F (28C).
Forecasters warned that today could be even hotter.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Scotland is 91F (32.9C), in Greycrook, Roxburghshire, on August 9, 2003.
The hottest ever June day was 89F (32.2C), at Ochtertyre, Perthshire, on June 19, 1893.
Yesterday’s peak temperature, in Aviemore, Inverness-shire, was the warmest day for five years and the hottest June day for 23 years.
But experts last night said even the record temperature could be beaten today as the heatwave intensifies.
Simon Partridge of the Met Office said: ‘You have not quite broken the records, but Aviemore came pretty close. We expect things to be warmer on Thursday so perhaps the records might tumble then.’
The scorching heat sent people flocking to parks and beaches, while fears of a drought were raised. One of the most popular spots was Loch Morlich in the Cairngorms National Park, where 84F (29C) was recorded.
Miele’s ice cream parlour in Aviemore could barely keep up with demand.
Boss Michael Miele said: ‘We have had queues out the door and on the street and even round the corner. Local trade is huge for us but we have also had people in from America, China and Japan on tour buses.
‘Every ice cream parlour in Scotland must be celebrating this weather.’
Sunseekers, including four-year-old Layla McCulloch of Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, also headed for Troon in Ayrshire. Melissa Walsh, 27, enjoyed the weather with daughters Hollie, 11, and Summer, nine, at the Falls of Falloch near Crianlarich in Perthshire.
Temperatures are expected to peak today, before cooling slightly over the weekend – though the weather is set to stay fine for the TRNSMT music festival, which gets under way tomorrow at Glasgow Green.
But George Anderson of BBC gardening show The Beechgrove Garden said he feared the heatwave may herald a drought.
He added: ‘In Edinburgh, we have only had about 10-15mm of rain in the last month. Soil is dust-dry, right down to about 18 inches.
‘The droughts of 1976 and 1977 started like this. Plants tend to stop growing and may even droop during the middle of the day.’
On Lewis, the conditions have caused lower than normal water levels in Loch Mor an Stairr, which supplies the Stornoway water treatment works. Scottish Water also appealed to households and businesses served by the Badentinan water treatment works in Moray to use water ‘wisely’.
But a spokesman said there were no areas where normal supplies of water to customers had been affected by the dry weather of the past few weeks.
Police issued a fresh warning against bathing in quarries, while Ardrossan Coastguard urged beach-goers to leave their inflatables at home following a spate of rescues over the past two months.
With Scotland hotter than Hawaii, it was rather appropriate that a photographer posted a picture of an iconic mountain looked more like an erupting volcano.
John McSporran captured the image of Stob Dearg on the Buachaille Etive Mòr in Glen Etive just as the sun was coming up on Saturday. He captioned it: ‘The Volcano of Glencoe? The sunshine looks like hot lava pouring from the mountain.’
Civil servant Mr McSporran, of Aberfoyle, Stirlingshire, said: ‘I was just walking along the river when the cloud floated above the peak. You are not really studying the scenery at the time, you just want to make sure everything is perfect for taking the picture.
‘It wasn’t until I was processing it that I realised what a stunning capture it was.’
But it wasn’t all sunshine on Scotland yesterday.
Residents in Comrie, Perthshire, were greeted with the sight of a rare ‘white rainbow’ at 7am.
The phenomenon, known as a ‘fog bow’, happens when light refracts through tiny water droplets in the air, creating an eerie white arc in the sky.
At The Lecht ski resort in Aberdeenshire, there was even snow – although, to be fair, they did have to make it temselves.
Staff were creating the white stuff ahead of a snowboard competition this weekend.
Resort worker Craig Rothney said: ‘The new snow-making machine is amazing and works up to temperatures of 30C – so we are really pushing it to its limits.’