Weather insight: Scotland has its warmest Christmas morning on record

Santa has just experienced his warmest Christmas Eve night in Scotland, with temperatures in Kinloss remaining above 12°C throughout the night.

The recorded low in Kinloss was 12.1°C at 6 a.m. this morning, surpassing the previous record of 10.6°C set at Dounreay in the Highlands back in 1971.

Across most of Scotland, temperatures hovered between 10°C and 11°C overnight, meaning many local records have likely been broken. The ‘coldest’ spot in Scotland was Dyce, with a low of 8.3°C, but even that is higher than the typical daytime temperatures for this time of year.

This is a stark contrast to Christmas morning in 2010, when most of Scotland awoke to snow-covered landscapes and temperatures well below freezing. That year marked the coldest Christmas morning on record, with Altnaharra in the north Highlands seeing a frigid -18.2°C. This year, however, Altnaharra is experiencing a mild 11°C—a nearly 30-degree difference!

The mild conditions are expected to continue into Christmas Day. While a new national temperature record for the day is unlikely, given that Faskally reached 15.9°C on Christmas Day 2011, some local records may still be set today.

TOP 5 WARMEST CHRISTMAS DAYS (average temperature across Scotland)

2011 10.1C

1988 9.5C

1971 9.5C

2016 8.9C

1982 8.7C

TOP 5 COLDEST CHRISTMAS DAYS (average temperature across Scotland)

1981 -2.7C

1961 -2.2C

1964 -2C

1995 -0.8C

2010 -0.8C