Temperatures set to soar to 23C in Scotland amid sunshine and blue skies

Thursday is set to be Scotland’s warmest day of the year so far with temperatures set to soar to 23C.

It’s started to feel like the sunshine might never end – especially in the west, where some areas have basked in wall-to-wall blue skies for over a week.

While the east has seen plenty of sunshine too, the easterly airflow off the North Sea has kept things cooler. Along the coasts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Fife, and East Lothian, temperatures have struggled to get out of single figures in some spots. But that’s all about to change.

After a week where the warmest conditions were reserved for the west — places like the West Highlands, Argyll and Bute, Ayrshire, and around Glasgow basking in mid to high teens — it’s finally the east’s turn to feel the heat on Thursday.

With a shift to a westerly airflow, the warmer air will be nudged eastwards, and we could see temperatures topping out in the low 20s. The hotspot is likely to be somewhere in Aberdeenshire or Angus, where 23C is within reach.

So far this year, the warmest temperature recorded has been 20.4C at Achnagart in the North Highlands on April 3. That record could well be broken.

While the eastern half of the country might celebrate their brief taste of warmth, it comes just as we begin transitioning to more changeable conditions this weekend and into next week, with bands of rain and stronger winds returning.

That said, Friday still looks pleasant in the east before cloudier skies and patchy rain start spreading into the northwest.

Next week brings more unsettled weather, but there is some hope that things might settle down again towards the end of the month — we can always hope.

On the plus side, the incoming dampness should offer some much-needed relief to areas that have seen wildfires recently, though the risk could return once things dry out again later in the month.