Christmas roast! Mild December’s record heat levels
SCOTLAND is enjoying some of the warmest end of December temperatures on record.
But while the weekend was hotter than Athens and Rome, we should prepare for a chilly start to 2020.
The mildest conditions were caused by a freak rush of tropical air, known as the Foehn Effect, bringing the highest-ever temperature for the very end of the year.
The Meteorological Office said Cassley, in Sutherland, reached 16.9C (62.4F) at 3am yesterday, beating the 16.1C (61F) recorded at Usk, Monmouthshire, on December 29 and 30, 1925. In contrast, Rome reached a high of only 9C (48F) and Athens 8C (46F) yesterday.
At one point over the weekend, remote Achnagart in Sutherland was both the wettest and warmest place in the UK.
Met Office spokesman Emma Smith said: ‘It has been exceptionally mild for the time of year.’
The December record in the UK is 18.3C (64.9F) set at Achnashellach, Ross-shire, on December 2, 1948.
For a brief period at the weekend Scotland was warmed by tropical air wafting up from the Azores.
The Foehn Effect happens when the wind from the south rises to cross the Cairngorms, before drying out and warming up on the other side. This is why the Moray coast enjoys drier and sunnier weather than almost any other part of Scotland.
Oli Claydon of the Met Office said: ‘All the previous records for warm December days are for earlier dates in the month.
‘We are now into the depths of winter, so to have these temperatures we saw at the weekend is quite remarkable. Sadly, this is a bit of a one-off phenomenon, rather than a lasting trend.’
At Findhorn, Moray, IT technician Nathan Kwok and his wife Pearl made the most of the mild conditions by enjoying a walk on the beach. Mr Kwok, a 27-year-old quality control analyst from Forres donned his shorts for their stroll as temperatures hit 15C (59F).
He said: ‘I like to get my shorts on when the temperature gets into double figures but I never imagined
I would be wearing them a couple of days before Hogmanay.’
Mrs Kwok, 25, added: ‘It’s really mild today with a lovely warm breeze. Its just a shame the ice cream shop is closed or we could have had an ice cream on the beach.’
The weather will begin to change early today, with rain moving in from the north-west and slowly making its way south across most of the country.
Mr Claydon added: ‘The East will fare best but it will be wet in the West. The wind starts to move back to a westerly, so Scotland will start to see more of an Atlantic influence. This means getting back to normal.
‘Anyone going out to celebrate New Year should wrap up warm. It’s going to be chilly.’
Tomorrow, Glasgow will see a daytime temperature no higher than 4C (39F), falling to around 2C (35F) by the time Hogmanay party-goers step out towards midnight.
‘A bit of a one-off phenomenon’