Scotland’s weather: Scots bask in Mediterranean temperatures

RECORD temperatures have been recorded across Scotland for the second day in a row as the country basked in more extraordinarily warm March weather.

Ice cream sales soared and parks, public spaces and beer gardens were full as people enjoyed temperatures as warm as those in Paris and Madrid.

Temperatures in Aboyne in Aberdeenshire reached 22.9C at 4:25pm yesterday – beating the record March temperature of 22.8C for Scotland set the day before at Fyvie Castle.

Previously, the warmest temperature recorded in Scotland in March was 22.2C recorded at Gordon Castle in Morayshire in 1957 and again at Strachan, in Kincardineshire, in 1965.

Yesterday, Aviemore in the Highlands (22.3C), Braemar in Aberdeenshire (19.6C), Wick in Caithness (19.5C) and Kirkwall on Orkney (18.7C) also reached record highs for the month of March.

In Glasgow and Edinburgh temperatures reached 20 degrees – making it as warm as resorts in France and Spain.

Ewa Arends, who works at the Pavilion Cafe on the Esplanade at Aberdeen, said: “I have had queues for ice cream all day. I think for this time of year the weather has been really special.”

Jennifer Wrigley, owner of the Reel Cafe in Orkney, said: “I’m pretty sure this time last year we had people getting stuck in the snow.

“All the kids have been coming in here today saying they’re too hot.”

At the Pear Tree pub in Edinburgh, manager George Fyvie said the scenes in the beer garden resembled those normally seen only in the height of summer.

“There are about 250 people in the beer garden. We have got people in shorts and T-shirts,” he said.

“Normally at this time of year we would have a coal fire blazing away and everybody would be inside drinking real ale.”

Social networks were full of comments from people enjoying the unusually warm weather.

On Twitter, Kate BT tweeted: “What happened to the normal Scottish March weather? Not that I’m complaining – enjoying reading on the Meadows in the sun.”

Chef Nick Nairn said on Twitter: “Snoozing in the sun!!! #scottishweather.”

Met Office forecaster Charlie Powell said: “The temperatures have been massively above what we expect for this time of year.

“We would expect to see double figures and temperatures of 9 or 10 degrees in Scotland so it is exceptionally mild for the time of year.

“We have had high pressure for quite a few days with a good deal of sunshine and wind from the south and south-east – which is why we have temperatures similar to those in continental Europe.”

The Met Office said the warm weather will continue for the next couple of days before becoming cooler on Wednesday and Thursday with winds coming from a more northerly direction.

The area of high pressure will drift to the west of the UK and bring more cloud and cooler air, with the chance of showers.