Scotland’s weather: Country basks in Easter sun

Edinburgh experienced a balmy day of sunshine and warm weather on Sunday. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The Royal Deeside village of Aboyne basked in the best of the Easter Monday Scottish sunshine, with the mercury rising to 18.9C yesterday, almost matching the previous day’s record of 20.7C.

The average UK temperature for April is 11.4C

The majority of the country will continue to enjoy more warm weather for most of the week, although April showers are expected to return by Friday.

Met Office forecaster Robin Steel: “These temperatures we have seen in Aboyne are well above the early to mid April average.

“It’s definitely the warmest place in Scotland and I would be very surprised if anyone beats that. It seems comparable with the typical holiday spots in the Spanish resorts.

“It is a shade higher than Barcelona which has the winds coming off the Med where it is round about 15 to 16C.”

The average temperature for this time of year for Royal Deeside is 10C. Usk in Wales was the hottest place in the UK, with a temperature of 19.4C.

While much of Scotland relished the heatwave, some parts shivered in a chilly, coastal mist.

Mr Steel said temperatures peaked at 17C in Edinburgh and at Fyvie Castle, 16C in Glasgow and 15C in the north Highlands.

But he added that the North Sea coast and villages surrounding the Clyde and Solway Firth struggled to even reach 10C.

The forecast for the next three days are for much of the same, although slightly cooler.

Mr Steel said: “There will still be an emphasis of fine spring-like temperatures for most of the week. The driest parts of the country will be in the south and east.

“For the Highlands and islands there will be more in the way of cloud and some rain in the far north.

“Temperatures will not be quite as high as Easter weekend, but could reach 17C in the best parts. However, the cloudier areas will only be 10-12C.”

Thursday could be a brighter day, he added, with temperatures rising again slightly.

Most of the nation will see temperatures of 19 to 20C and will be hotter than Athens which will struggle to get to 10C, Madrid that will also peak at 11C and Rome where the top temperature will be only 15C on Thursday.

But the weather will deteriorate come Friday and into the weekend.

The forecaster said: “We are going to get some April showers and fresher conditions, with temperatures dropping again across the country.”

The following week the weather should return to normal April temperatures.

He said: “We will lose the warm conditions. People will notice the temperatures will have more of an edge, it will be a bit more chilly and what we should really be expecting for spring.”

The Met Office has warned sun lovers to protect themselves during the bright spells in spring. A spokesman said: “You always have to be aware of the sunshine getting stronger. The ozone is quite low, it is the lowest it will get all year so you’re losing protection from the ozone.

“So with any sunshine from now and the rest of the spring, summer and early autumn it is a case of being wary and if you’re exposed for any length of time put your creams on accordingly.”

Although it has been warm throughout most of the country during the day, gardeners are warned to beware of overnight frost.

The Met Office said: “Overnight there is a risk of frost and gardeners need to be aware of that. It will be chilly. Town and cities will stay above freezing of 4-6C. But, away from them, temperatures will fall to around zero and there will be ground frost and pockets of local air frost.”