Scotland set for hottest autumn ever
The Met Office is expected to confirm within days whether Scotland has registered its hottest autumn ever in records going back to the 19th century.
The Met Office defines autumn as the months of September, October and November.
With just a few days of the season remaining, an average temperature of 9.78C (50F) places it warmer than 2006, the hottest autumn ever.
The figures have been compiled since 1884, the year Scotland beat England in the first Home Championship contest, St Johnstone were founded as a football club in Perth and Royal Marines arrived on Skye to deal with the fallout from the attempted eviction of crofters engaged in a rent strike.
Scotland has already recorded the warmest overnight temperature for any November, when the mercury hit 14.6C (58F) earlier this month.
To show how our climate is changing rapidly, last autumn was the third warmest Scotland had ever seen.
Botanists say we are experiencing a ‘second spring’ as some plants and flowers continue to flourish due to the lack of frost.
Large fashion retailers report a glut of stock in their store rooms as customers delay buying winter clothes because it is so mild.
Rebecca Hudson of the Met Office said it will not be certain until all the statistics are examined after Wednesday, the final day of November.
However, she added: ”It’s provisionally looking like the warmest autumn on record.
“If it doesn’t manage to break the record, it will almost certainly be the second warmest ever.”
Recent heavy rainfall is likely to become a distant memory in the forecast reaching into the
second week of December.
Torrential rain hit much of the north east of Scotland and Edinburgh last week, with roads and rail travel impacted, schools closed and centres set up for those unable to stay in their homes. A ridge of high pressure is now beginning to build from the west, heralding drier and sunnier conditions which arrived yesterday.
There may be some showers today but they should clear to produce a fine day for most.
Tuesday and Wednesday
look promising as well but temperatures could drop by the middle of the week, due to another area of high pressure building from the east.
Yesterday, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency still had six flood warnings in place for central Scotland.
In some areas, local were warned that while rain had stopped, river levels continued to rise as water permeated down from surrounding hills.
Ferry timetables began to return to normal after being
badly disrupted on the west coast on Saturday due to prevailing weather conditions. Calmac were forced to cancel yesterday’s sailings between Oban and Castlebay due to a combination of the weather plus sea swell as high as five metres.
Similar cancellations were announced between Mallaig and Armadale and Mallaig to the Small Isles.
Thursday sees the official start to winter.