Scotland’s miserably wet and cold summer could take a turn for the better next week thanks to a wave of hot air bringing heatwave temperatures up from Spain.
Thermometers are forecast to hit highs of 25C and even higher from Monday as the hot continental weather blows north across the country.
And the summery conditions could begin to arrive as early as this weekend – following a few more rainy days in what has been one of the wettest summers for the north of Scotland in recent years.
Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “Temperatures are going to climb as we go through to the beginning part of this next week.
“It’s not exactly correct to call it a true Spanish Plume, but what we will have is a lot of hot air drawn up from the south.
“For this weekend across Aberdeen and the Aberdeenshire area the weather is going to be generally good, following a fair bit of rain over the next coming days.
“Temperature-wise, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a lot hotter than usual. Friday will hit highs of around 22C in the city, and it’s possible temperatures could touch about 20C on Saturday and Sunday, and Monday is when the hotter air really comes in, so I expect we could see temperatures in the mid 20s, maybe even a little bit higher.
“In Inverness and around the Highlands, we’re looking for temperatures to reach the mid to high teens over Friday and the weekend, and even higher into next week.
“Up in Orkney and Shetland, we’re looking at highs of around 14C and 15C in Saturday and Sunday, but it will be quite a bit cooler compared to the rest of the north of Scotland.
“This summer has been especially wet, in the north-east of Scotland in particular.
“Across Aberdeenshire in June for example, there was more than twice as much rainfall than average, with 147.6mm this year (5.7 inches), which is 104% more than we usually expect.
“A lot of this summer’s poor weather has been due in part to a strengthened jet stream at the start of the season, and also it was a little bit further south, meaning the northern part of the UK was on the colder, more unsettled side of it – bringing increased rainfall across Scotland in June and July.”
Mark Paterson, the curator of the Aberdeen University’s Cruickshank Botanical Garden, said the summer of 2016 has caused a lot of havoc for gardeners across Scotland.
Mr Paterson said: “When it comes to predicting the weather for growing conditions these days, the only thing that is predictable is unpredictability.
“Everything came to leaf so late this year, it wasn’t until the last week of May that we had most plants suddenly breaking into leaf, and it was a welcome scene when it happened.
“The summer has been wet, but I think the best word would be inconsistent. It’s been on and off, not always warm air, not always cold, and not a lot of time for plants to dry out.
“And all of this is beginning to have an impact on plant stress and health, and with increased humidity as of late we have seen a lot of diseases unfortunately becoming more common – particularly in a lot of our vegetables and herbaceous plants.
“If we have even two or three days of consistent sunshine next week it will hopefully result in a little more growth for plants needing hot weather for ripening, such as apples, pumpkins, cucumbers and so on – the additional bit of heat will help enormously.
“One of the delights for any gardener is having wonderful plans to grow super plants, but never quite knowing what challenge you’ll face in any given year, and this one has certainly brought challenges.”
