The weather has been fantastic recently, making it feel like we’ve fast-forwarded into summer (and a proper summer at that). The only giveaway that we’re still in spring is the sharp drop in temperature overnight, back down to near freezing for some rural spots along with some morning mist and fog.
So why has it been so warm? The spring heatwave has been driven by high pressure bringing warm air from North Africa, across the Mediterranean, over Europe and eventually to us. But the warm southeasterly winds don’t explain why inland Aberdeenshire has been so hot. That is due to something called the Föhn effect, as warm air is driven up over the Grampians it loses moisture and becomes even warmer in the lee of the mountain.
So warm in fact, that Scotland has seen its March temperature record smashed on three successive days. On Tuesday afternoon, Aboyne in Aberdeenshire reached 23.6C, beating Cromdale in Moray’s 23.2C set on Monday afternoon. Just the day before, Fyvie Castle in Aberdenshire recorded 22.8C, the first to beat a March temeprature record that had stood for 55 years. Prior to last weekend, the record March temperature in Scotland had stood at 22.2C, set at Gordon Castle in Moray in 1957 and again at Strachan in Kincardineshire in 1965.
Talking of records, sadly none were broken during my Sport Relief mile in Glasgow. But I had a great time doing the mile with Ethan in his buggy, along with my sister and her children. I was so impressed by how many people had turned out for the event and the sunny weather gave the event a real carnival spirit.
Unfortunately it looks as though we’ll be back to more seasonal weather come the start of April, so enjoy the heat while you can, it will be at least 10 degrees colder and much cloudier soon enough. But it doesn’t look as though we’re going to get a great deal of rain any time soon, so drought could well be an issue for many of us this year.
If you’re wondering what the weather will bring for the Easter break then I’ll be posting a forecast soon. All I will say for now is that a White Easter happens more often than a White Christmas…