Scottish Highlands village sets new provisional record for January warmth

The Met Office has announced that Kinlochewe, located in the Scottish Highlands, has recorded the highest January temperature ever seen in the UK, reaching a provisional 19.6°C on Sunday. If confirmed, this would also represent the warmest winter day in Scotland’s history.

In a social media post, the Met Office noted: “There has provisionally been a new UK January daily max temperature record set today at Kinlochewe where the temperature reached 19.6°C. This surpasses the previous UK January record of 18.3°C, set at Inchmarlo and Aboyne in 2003, as well as Aber in 1958 and 1971.”

In addition to its record-breaking warmth, Kinlochewe was also under a yellow weather warning for wind on the same day, with the alert covering the north-west Highlands and Outer Hebrides between 11am and 5pm. Meanwhile, other areas, including Scotland’s central belt and the eastern coast of Northern Ireland, experienced yellow wind warnings from 10am to 8pm.