Kinlochewe sets provisional UK record for January temperature with 19.6C

A village in Scotland has set the UK record for temperature in January after hitting 19.6C, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.

The temperature in Kinlochewe in the north-west Highlands recorded the temperature on Sunday, making it hotter than Rome and the Cote d’Azur.

It rose above the previous record of villages Inchmarlo and Aboyne in Aberdeenshire which hit 18.3C in 2003 while Aber, Ceredigion, reached the same level in both 1958 and 1971.

The temperature, if confirmed, would be the record for a winter’s day in Scotland.

In a post on X, the Met Office said: “There has provisionally been a new UK January daily max temperature record set today at Kinlochewe where the temperature reached 19.6C.

“This beats the previous January UK record of 18.3C set at Inchmarlo and Aboyne in 2003 and Aber in 1958 and 1971.”

As well as potentially setting the record, Kinlochewe was also covered by a yellow weather warning for wind.

Eilean Siar and the Highlands saw gusts of up to 80mph, with the weather warning issued between 11am and 4pm on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Scotland’s central belt and the eastern coast of Northern Ireland were already under a yellow wind warning, due to last between 10am and 8pm.