SCOTLAND soared into official heatwave territory today, putting even the Spanish Costas in the shade.
The mercury touched 25C (77F) in several spots in the Highlands, much to the delight of international visitors, including some Spanish tourists.
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It means the first day of ‘heatwave’ criteria has been reached in the middle of September.
The mercury has to remain above that for three days somewhere in Scotland for the current weather episode to qualify for the term ‘heatwave’.
Last night, Met Office meteorologist Clare Nasir said Scotland is expected to hit 25C again somewhere on Thursday which could complete the second leg of the heatwave ‘campaign’.
Temperatures are expected to take a slight dip on Friday – possibly ruling out the unlikely accolade.
But it still means that the autumn month of September has produced better conditions than much of July and August.
Ice cream entrepreneur David Miele was busy selling cones in the sunshine at Drumnadrochit, on the banks of Loch Ness today.
The 35-year-old said: “We’re next to the Nessie exhibition area but no one’s going in because it’s far too hot.
“Even the Spanish tourists are walking around in their T-shirts.
“This weather has been a long time coming. People are taking the view a cool ice cream is an overdue treat.
“The summer just past was really disappointing. Frankly, this has been a business-saving week for us and I’m sure many businesses up here will say the same.”
Farmers in Ross-shire were finally able to get their crops harvested as the weather improved.
“Over the last few weeks, combine harvesters have been sitting in fields in the hope of good weather.
The Met Office say two locations reached the magical 25C (77F) heatwave threshold, Kinlochewe in Wester Ross and Aviemore in Inverness-shire.
Scotland even had five of the top six UK temperatures today, with only London’s St James’s Park interrupting the run at 23.7C (74F).
Other hotspots north of the border were Aboyne in Aberdeenshire (24C) Achnagart in Ross and Cromarty (23.6C) and Kinbrace Hatchery in Sutherland (23.5C).
European hot spots including the Costas were eclipsed as well. The popular Costa Blanca resort of Benidorm could only manage 23C (73F) in the rain and the Portuguese capital Lisbon got no warmer than 24C (75F).
As for St Tropez, on the Cote d’Azur, the mercury never got above 21C (70F) all day.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s weather here, Clare Nasir of the Met Office said: “Sunshine is coming through during the afternoon, although there could be some stubborn patches of cloud along the east coast.
“Temperatures will be typically 21-25C (70-77F) and feeling warm in the sunshine.
“It will be cooler, though, along the eastern side of Scotland.”
Scotland is benefiting from high pressure sitting to the east of us.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
It is now stationary over Scandinavia, in what’s known as ‘a block’.
This means that things are unlikely to change here until the end of the week at the earliest.
