Parts of the Moray coast could experience one of the hottest New Year’s Days ever recorded in Scotland this weekend.
The Met Office has said milder air will mean the coastline between Inverness and Elgin, as well as the Central Belt, could have temperatures of around 14C on Saturday.
This would make it one of the warmest starts to a year in the country since a record high of 14.5C was measured back in 1992.
Whether or not that record may be broken after 30 years is “a little bit uncertain”, said Met Office forecaster Craig Snell.
He said: “It’s certainly going to be up there with one of the warmest New Year’s Days, but whether or not we get that kind of record broken across Scotland, I’m not too sure at this moment in time.”
He added that if a new record high is measured, it will most likely be on the Moray coast or in the Central Belt.
However, the higher-than-normal temperatures are not likely to last very long into 2022.
Mr Snell said: “Temperatures will trend back down to something a little more normal after New Year’s Day.
“It will probably be Bank Holiday Monday when the cooler air really does start to make itself known.
“It’s generally going to take things down to something a bit more typical, but it will feel colder because we’ve had a few days of milder conditions.”
‘Chance of snow lower than usual’
Those who are keen to see some early January snow, though, are likely to be disappointed, as temperatures are not forecast to fall that far.
Mr Snell added: “It’s a bit too early to say, but the general signal is that the chance of snow is maybe a little bit lower than what we would usually expect, with the chance of some milder air coming back.
“But that’s just the trend. It doesn’t necessarily imply that there wouldn’t be a colder spell coming through bringing snow.”
That may be positive news to people who were stuck in the extreme snow that hit the north and north-east near the start of this year.
