SCORCHLAND
Amber alert for south of the country as mercury is set to hit record highs
Scots are bracing themselves for an extreme heatwave after the amber weather warning was extended to include the south of the country.
It means Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders are included in the national emergency over record-breaking temperatures set to hit the UK over the next few days.
Forecasters have warned the hot spell is expected to develop across southern Scotland from today with temperatures reaching low to mid-30s in those areas at the start of the week.
Tuesday will see the highest temperatures and could challenge all-time records of 32.9 degrees which were recorded in 2003.
The Met Off ice warning covers southern parts of Scotland including eastern par ts of Dumfr ies and Gal loway, much of the Scottish Borders and also parts of East Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and Midlothian. The central belt of Scotland is to hit around 28 degrees.
A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “There is an amber ‘extreme heat’ weather warning in place for Dumfries and Galloway and parts of the Borders for
Sunday and Monday, which possibly may need to be pulled a bit further north to include parts of eastern Scotland such as Edinburgh and towards Perth and Dundee. High temperatures are expected.
“Portugal set a new July record at 47 degrees on Thursday and we’ve had temperatures over 45 in Spain and into the low 40s in France so it’s not just the UK that has hot weather on the cards.
“On Sunday, Scotland could see temperatures about 26 or 27 degrees in southern parts which on Monday will climb up a notch to 29 near the borders and central Scotland seeing around 27 degrees.
“The peak of the heat will be Tuesday for Scotland, especially the eastern side of the country where it could hit wel l into the low 30s, c e r t a i n l y cha l l eng i ng Scotland’s all time record.”
An emergency government Cobra meeting was called yesterday after the Met Office issued its first red warning for extreme heat.
Keith Brown – lead minister for Scottish Government Resilience – said: “Our arrangements have been activated and stand ready to coordinate a response to severe weather issues where required.”