Wet winters and drier summers in coming years

Much of Scotland is likely to see wetter winters and much drier summers in coming decades if climate change goes unchecked, research shows.

Rainfall is likely to become more extreme in both summer and winter, with heavy storms projected to become more frequent by the end of the 21st century, the study found.

The Met Office used high resolution modelling of rainfall over 1.5km squares to examine the changes in rainfall in Scotland and northern England to the end of the century.

The research looked at what could happen if the world continued to pump out rising levels of high greenhouse gases.

It found that daily average winter rainfall was likely to increase by 10 per cent-35 per cent in parts of the Central Lowlands, western Highlands, but fall 10-25 per cent around Aberdeen.