The best and worst Scottish summers on record

Young people enjoy fun in the River Teith at Doune.  Picture Robert PerryYoung people enjoy fun in the River Teith at Doune.  Picture Robert Perry
Young people enjoy fun in the River Teith at Doune. Picture Robert Perry

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It may feel like Scottish summers bring more brolly weather than bikini weather, but we have also had our glory days in the sun.

It was the year that Noel Gallagher joined Paul Weller on stage at T in the Park, the deep fried mars bar was first made at a chip shop in Stonehaven and Mel Gibson’s Braveheart was released.

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It was 1995 - the year which also brought Scotland its best summer since full records began in 1910.

Scotland’s highest ever temperature was recorded at Creebridge in Dumfries and Galloway when the mercury touched 31.6 degrees on August 2.

Long, hot bright days were to define that summer with 612.1 hours of sunshine recorded by meteorologists.

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To compare, that was 200 hours more sunshine than Scotland’s most gloomy summer on record in 1964.

Scotland also recorded the driest summer in 1995 with just 141.6mm of rain falling.

That was around a third of the rainfall recorded during the country’s wettest summer on record in 1985.

Thankfully, most of us in Scotland today won’t remember the worst ever holiday season recorded.

That was back in 1922 when temperatures averaged 10.61 degrees Celsius from June to August. The best average maximum temperature was just over 14 degrees Celsius.

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Heavy rain, although not as persistent as 1985, was also recorded over the three months.

While summer 2016 has so-far treated Scots to prolonged sunshine, high winds, fog, thunder and hail, we won’t know how it ranks in terms of meteorological history until September.

But when comparing weather for June only over various years, some interesting results appear.

While 1922 is considered the coldest summer in Scotland, less rain fell in June of that year (74.3mm) when compared to rainfall in Scotland last month.

Then, 95.2mm was provisionally recorded so summer 2016 could yet be one to remember - or indeed forget.

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