The heat is on as Spanish summer comes to Scotland
‘The hottest spell of the year’
SCOTLAND is set to bask in the hottest spell of weather this year, with temperatures to beat traditional hotspots of Barcelona and Bermuda.
After showers today, the mercury will continue to rise throughout the week, hitting an expected high of at least 27C (81F) as we move into the Bank Holiday weekend.
The Met Office yesterday said that hot air from Spain will bring the bumper conditions across the UK, with Scotland expected to beat its current 2017 record high of 22.4C (72F) recorded at Lossiemouth, Moray, on May 16.
The temperature is set to be around 18C (64F) tomorrow, climbing to 21C (70F) on Wednesday and 24C (75F) on Thursday.
Met Office Forecaster Alex Burkhill said: ‘By Friday and the start of the weekend, we could see the temperature reaching into the high 20s.
‘How long it lasts is not certain but it will be the hottest spell of the year, beating the record set for Scotland last Tuesday.
‘The South will be the warmest, as the air is coming from the South, and 30C (86F) is possible in parts of England.
‘There will be a lot of dry weather, with sunny spells on Tuesday and Wednesday, and sunnier conditions from Thursday. But there will be a change to more unsettled, showery conditions later in the Bank Holiday weekend.’
Brian Gaze, forecaster for The Weather Outlook website, added: ‘Hot air will spread from southern Europe into the UK, pulled up by high pressure to the East and low pressure to the West.
‘Computer forecast models are pumping the thermostat up.’
The forecast comes as new figures show Scotland has experienced its driest six months in more than two decades. Figures from the Met Office show October to March were the driest period since the mid-1990s, with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency saying some areas received only 20 per cent of their average rainfall.
But the Met Office’s longrange forecast warns that temperatures ‘will return closer to normal by the end of the month, although in any sunshine it will still become rather warm’.
The warm weather will be a welcome change for Scots after a hard winter that was the wettest ever recorded.
Statistics from the Met Office confirmed that the rainfall which washed over the country in the three months of December, January and February was record-breaking.
Downpours delivered an average of two-and-a-half feet of rain across the country, resulting in a spate of floods.