Scotland had its warmest May in a century

Scotland has enjoyed its warmest May in more than 100 years. The maximum daily temperature north of the Border was 15.3C for the month – 2.4C above the May average.

Aberdeenshire and Banffshire recorded even higher temperatures, with the gauge 3C above the daily average for the month.

Scotland’s monthly rainfall was also well down for May.

Just 46.1mm fell across the country – only 55 per cent of what Scotland would normally get for the month.

The last time Scotland had a warmer May was in 1910 – four years before the start of the First World War – when Met Office figures were first recorded.

Sunshine hours were well up at 229.7 for the month.

The figure was almost 30 per cent higher than Scotland’s average sunshine hours for the month.

A total of 245.3 hours of sunshine were measured across the UK last month, accordingtothemetoffice.

This is more than any May since existing records started in 1929.

It was also the warmest May for Britain on record.

The average daytime maximum temperature was 17C, just beating the previous all-time high of 16.9C set in May 1992.

Met Office data for temperatures go back to 1910.