Warmest day of the year so far recorded in Scottish Highlands as mercury hits 22C

After a few days of sunnier weather for most of the country, we’ve been given a little taster of spring – finally.

April felt pretty disappointing for most of us, but May has done not too bad so far – mind you we’re only two days in. But on Wednesday, the temperatures reached the high teens in many western areas with a peak of 21.9C at Aultbea in the north Highlands.

On Thursday in Kinlochewe and Achnagart, also in the north Highlands, we’ve achieved 22.1C making it the warmest day of the year so far.

It’s obvious the Highlands is the place to be just now with its blazing sunshine and 20C temperatures, because despite the sunshine on the east coast, temperatures are struggling here. This afternoon it’s been around 12-13C on the Aberdeenshire, Angus and Fife coast, as well as in Edinburgh.

The Highlands continue to be the place to be for sunshine and the highest temperatures on Friday and the far north on Saturday as it’s all about to change in time for the weekend.

Cloud and more showers will start to arrive tomorrow in the south of Scotland and will slowly spread north in the coming days. By Saturday most of the country will be cloudy with some light rain and perhaps some heavier showers developing on Sunday.

Things should settle back down next week with high pressure settling to the north of the country which would bring a cool air flow to the east again, but warmer conditions to Argyll and the west Highlands.

For context, this time last year the Scottish high for 2023 was 21.2C which had been recorded at Kinlochewe in early April 2023. So we’ve already beaten where we were this time last year despite the rubbish April.