Hottest January day as Highlands top 19C

THE hottest day ever recorded in January in the UK was yesterday, according to official data.

The village of Kinlochewe, Scotland, which is home to fewer than 100 people, recorded a high of 19.6C yesterday, with spots in northernmost Highland regions also in excess of 18C.

The previous record for a January day was 18.3C, which occurred four times, most recently on Jan 16 2003.

The new high is a result of a number of weather events which saw isolated spots near mountains hit with a narrow blast of hot air.

Britain is experiencing a southerly wind bringing warm air up to the British Isles from the Azores, which brought unusually warm weather yesterday.

In addition, more mountainous regions experienced a phenomenon known as the Foehn Effect; where air rises up a mountain, heats in the mild, dry conditions higher up, then moves down the other side, bringing the extra heat with it.

This convection pattern is taking the already mild air from off the coast of Africa, heating it even further in the skies above the Lochs of Scotland before a heated plume comes downwards.

The effect causes small pockets of unusual heat and is hard to forecast.

A Met Office spokesman said the warm southerly wind is expected to cease today but a warm south-westerly is due to hit the UK in midweek, with temperatures of about 14C expected.

Yesterday’s temperature is a January record for the UK and a winter record, which also includes December and February, for Scotland.

The mild spell comes after three storms (Henk, Isha and Jocelyn) battered the UK in 2024. Ten storms have hit the UK so far this season after the Met Office found last year was, provisionally, the second-warmest on record.