Snow joke – Highlands see blizzard after balmy days

WHAT a difference a week makes. Seven days ago the Highlands was basking in the hottest temperatures in the country – but yesterday visitors to one of the area's top tourism venues were met with blizzards.

Seventeen-year-old twins Jeanette and Elizabeth McGregor took advantage of a 2in snowfall to build a snowman in the Cairngorms after temperatures on the mountain plunged to 0C.

Today hail and snow is expected with winds of up to 30mph and temperatures at 900m not expected to rise above 3C.

Colin Kirkwood, a spokesman for Cairngorm Mountain, said: "It is not unprecedented to have snow at this time of year. In fact, a few years ago there was snow on midsummer's day."

It is a far cry from last Friday when Kinlochewe in Wester Ross was the hottest place in the UK at 26C – warmer than Barcelona, Corfu and Malta..

Then, the mercury reached 24.5C in Aviemore, but the resort was chillier yesterday, struggling to get to 8.7C, putting it more in line with Stockholm and St Petersburg.