Thunder and lightning hit parts of the north and north-east yesterday – whilst others basked in beautiful blue skies.
A storm swept through the Cairngorms into west Aberdeenshire and parts of the Highlands including the Great Glen yesterday afternoon – despite a heatwave gripping much of the rest of the country.
The thunder and lightning was spotted in both Braemar and Ballater, with electrical flashes seen striking the hills around the villages.
Elsewhere in the north-east though, locals soaked up the sun.
The Met Office had placed a yellow warning on the Highlands and Islands until last night, warning of thunderstorms and rainfall.
And the forecaster said the warm weather itself was what caused the storms to arrive in Scotland, with parts of the country experiencing flash floods.
Met Office spokesman, Grahame Madge, said the storms had been “exceptionally intense”.
He added: “What you need for a storm system is relatively high temperatures and moist air. This sort of weather system can spawn very localised conditions.
“It was very, very lively across the Highlands and into the Grampians. It was a very active weather system, there were lots of lightning strikes within the area and obviously plenty of rainfall.
“Most of the activity has been west of Aboyne. Parts of eastern Scotland were notable for having low temperatures.”
Braemar had been predicted to reach 25C yesterday, however the storm moved further into Aberdeenshire than was predict and only a high of 15C was recorded.
Though just a few miles away at Fyvie Castle the mercury soared to 21.1C and in Aviemore a high of 21.6C was recorded.
In Aboyne the temperature did not get above 16C and at Balmoral it was 15.7C; whilst Aberdeen was 16C yesterday afternoon.
The hottest place in the UK was Hull, where a high of 26.3C was recorded, and in Glasgow the mercury peaked at 23.7C.
Mr Madge said there would be another day of nice weather across the north and north-east tomorrow(Thurs) before temperatures begin to dip.
Come Friday, a weather front will move in from the Atlantic bringing rain across thew weekend.
Mr Madge said: “Temperatures could get up to 16C – 17C (in Aberdeenshire) on Wednesday. The development of these (storm) systems can be quite short notice.
“We have got a couple more days of this sort of weather and then as we go on into Friday a return to wet weather from the Atlantic.”
