Met Office weather news: Scottish village records warmest January temperature of 19.9C

A provisional new January temperature of 19.9C for the UK has been recorded in a village in the north of Scotland, the Met Office has confirmed. Achfary in Sutherland recorded the temperature on Sunday (January 28), surpassing the provisional record of 19.6C announced at Kinlochewe in the north-west Highlands.

Previously, the record of 18.3C was held by the villages of Inchmarlo and Aboyne in Aberdeenshire, which hit that figure in 2003; and Aber, Ceredigion, which reached the same level in both 1958 and 1971.

A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “A manual reading at Achfary, a site in north-west Scotland, has come in today with a temperature of 19.9C on Sunday, provisionally setting a new UK maximum temperature record for January. This exceeds the automated reading of 19.6C reported yesterday at Kinlochewe.”

According to a spokesperson from the Met Office, the elevated temperatures are a result of a meteorological phenomenon called the Foehn effect. The Foehn effect, similar to the conditions observed in Kinlochewe. This phenomenon occurs when air is forced over a mountain range, warms up, and descends on the opposite side, leading to an increase in temperatures. He said the previous record temperatures in January were also attributed to the same phenomenon.

The spokesperson said the provisional record will be checked by the verification team who “will be going to visit sites and check the calibration of the equipment over the next couple of days”.

Achfary and Kinlochewe were both covered by a yellow weather warning for wind on Sunday. The warning was in place for the north-west Highlands and Western Isles between 11am and 5pm, with a 71mph wind gust recorded in South Uist.