Scotland beats 70-year record high

THE Met Office has provisionally recorded a new maximum temperature of 18.7C for December in the UK.

Forecasters took the measurement at Achfary in the Highlands on Saturday, which would be the hottest day of the month on record in Britain if validated.

It would beat the current top December temperature of 18.3C (64.94F), which was recorded at Achnashellach in the Highlands back in 1948.

The high recording has been put down to a meteorological phenomenon known as the Foehn Effect.

This is a change from wet and cold conditions on one side of a mountain to warmer and drier conditions on the other side.

The most notable Foehn events tend to occur across the Highlands, where the moist prevailing westerly winds encounter high ground along Scotland’s west coast.