Sun to shine on Scotland this week

SUMMER has finally arrived, and Scotland is expected to bask in a week of warm, sunny weather, forecasters predicted last night.

Temperatures are expected to reach 22C to 23C in inland areas today and tomorrow, before falling slightly to 18C for the rest of the week, but the strong sunshine should continue.

The weekend saw a contrast in weather across Scotland, with the highest temperatures of 22C being recorded in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth. In Aberdeen the temperature remained at 13C for most of the weekend.

However, in Shetland the latest leg of the Tall Ships Races 2011, from Lerwick to Stavanger, due to commence at 5pm yesterday was postponed for 24 hours after unseasonably strong gusts of wind of 40-45 mph and heavy rain hit the islands over the weekend.

Experts said this was caused by the squeeze of low pressure over Norway and high pressure out to the west of Scotland.

Peter Sloss, duty forecaster with the Met Office in Aberdeen, said: "What we are seeing is a typical Scottish summer, with good bits and not so good bits.

"The weekend has seen a real north-south contrast,with Aberdeen, the Grampians and Shetland experiencing cold, windy weather, with temperatures of only 13C to 14C.

"South of Aberdeen there was glorious sunshine and a dry weekend."

He added that the weather in the north was due to improve shortly and would it be dry with lots of sunshine, similar to the rest of Scotland.

However, Mr Sloss he warned there could be a slight change on Wednesday, with light showers before temperatures returned to about 19C.

The weekend's good weather attracted people to the coast and resulted in a number of emergency rescues. A young boy and two men who had been bodyboarding got into difficulties about 200 yards offshore from Peffer Sands, near North Berwick, East Lothian, at about 7:45pm on Saturday.

The boy, aged about 11, was rescued by a nearby dinghy, but it was unable to return to rescue the men due to deteriorating weather - which also made it difficult for lifeboats, a spokeswoman for Forth Coastguard said.

A rescue helicopter from RAF Boulmer rescued the two men from the sea at about 9pm.

A Forth Coastguard spokeswoman said: "You cannot really be out too long in the water, but they just could not get in because there were big waves and the surf was just too much.

"There were 5ft-6ft breakers and when you are just a wee boy that would be quite frightening," she added.In Shetland, Paul Bishop, race director for Sail Training International, said the decision to postpone the start of the Tall Ships Races 2011 was taken on Saturday afternoon.

He said: "After careful consideration, the race committee for The Tall Ships Races 2011 and the Lerwick Port Authority have jointly decided to postpone the start of Race Two, from Lerwick to Stavanger (in Norway] for 24 hours.

"We have been monitoring the weather reports closely and there is a complex low near Denmark, which will maintain strong northerly winds through the North and Norwegian Seas as a weak ridge remains to the west of the country.

"The low will only slowly fill during the following days as winds slowly ease, with the ridge remaining to the west of the UK.

"The fleet can all withstand such tough weather conditions, but in the interest of enjoyment in addition to safety, we don't feel it necessary to make a challenging race any more challenging for our trainees and crews."