Scotland enjoys hottest day of the year

The sun is set to stay until Friday evening. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

The small village of Aboyne, a tourist hotspot in Aberdeenshire, was the warmest place in Scotland yesterday with the mercury soaring to 23.7C at 2:03pm. Balmoral, also in Aberdeenshire, another popular stopping-off place for visitors, Royal and otherwise, was in second place at 22.4C, followed by Leuchars in Fife at 22.4C.

Sunbathers took to parks and beaches to bask in the sun after last week’s dismal wet and windy weather which saw a number of community events cancelled.

And it was iced fruit ice lollies and fruit kebabs for the animals at Blair Drummond Safari Park as keepers found innovative ways to keep the animals cool.

The warm spell brought a boost to small businesses, with one ice-cream seller seeing queues streaming outside her shop on to the street from mid-morning.

Yolana Lucca, director of Luca of Musselburgh in East Lothian, said: “The queue has been half-way up the street since 10:30am. As soon as the sun comes out it starts up. They’re all standing there in their bikini tops.

“We’re on our feet all day and we’ve got people queuing until 10pm at night. We have to lock the queue in at 10pm so that we can get home.”

But last night Nicola Maxey, spokeswoman for the Met Office, said Scots could expect to see cooler weather over the next few days.

“It is looking like a fairly dry day tomorrow with plenty of sunshine around and temperatures tomorrow reaching 13C in coastal areas and 16C inland.

“On Saturday it’s a colder day with temperatures of 9c in coastal areas and similar temperatures on Sunday.

“There’s a marked difference between the temperatures today and Saturday and Sunday. We’ve got a weather front coming in to north-west Scotland which is bringing colder air with it and also some rain.

“Saturday will not only be colder but there’s some rain and that rain could be quite heavy and that will affect most people throughout.

“It does dry up a bit as you go through the evening into Sunday.”

A severe weather warning has been issued for thunderstorms down south today.

The Met Office put out the yellow alert – meaning be aware – for southern England, south Wales, the Midlands and the east of England.

There is a chance of “significant disruption” from surface water flooding, while lightning and hail could also cause problems, the weather warning noted. Isolated severe thunderstorms are likely to begin from noon today, followed by a band of more widespread heavy rain until the early hours of tomorrow morning. Last night Scottish Water issued a warning after a number of fire hydrants were vandalised in the Greater Glasgow area.

Jim Hassan, operations manager for Greater Glasgow, said: “This mindless vandalism is a very serious community problem in some areas and we are urging people there to help us tackle the problem by reporting any incidents to the police immediately.”

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service also warned that the reduced water pressure caused when hydrants are vandalised can hamper the ability of firefighters to tackle fires and also cause localised flooding in streets.