Kinlochewe sets provisional UK record for January temperature with 19.6C

A village in Scotland has provisionally set the UK record for temperature in January after hitting 19.6C, the Met Office has confirmed.

Kinlochewe in the north-west Highlands recorded the temperature on Sunday, rising above the previous record of villages Inchmarlo and Aboyne in Aberdeenshire which hit 18.3C in 2003 while Aber, Ceredigion, reached the same level in both 1958 and 1971.

The temperature, if confirmed, would also be the record for a winter’s day in Scotland.

In a post on X, the Met Office said: “There has provisionally been a new UK January daily max temperature record set today at Kinlochewe where the temperature reached 19.6C.

“This beats the previous January UK record of 18.3C set at Inchmarlo and Aboyne in 2003 and Aber in 1958 and 1971.”

As well as potentially setting the record, Kinlochewe was also covered by a yellow weather warning for wind.

The warning was in place for the north-west highlands and Outer Hebrides between 11am and 5pm.

Elsewhere, Scotland’s central belt and the eastern coast of Northern Ireland were already under a yellow wind warning, due to last between 10am and 8pm.

A Met Office spokesperson told the PA news agency the temperature in Kinlochewe was the result of a “brisk, mild, southerly flow” combined with a meteorological phenomenon known as “the Foehn effect”.

The spokesperson explained: “The Foehn effect takes place when air is forced to rise over the mountain and warms.

“The warming air then travels back down the other side of the mountain, bringing anomalously high temperatures in the area.

“Although it was a mild day, it was also very windy across Scotland.

“Yellow wind warnings are in force, and we have recorded a gust of 71mph at South Uist in the Western Isles.”

Elsewhere in the Highlands on Sunday afternoon, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service deployed crews to put out a wildfire in the Glencanisp area of Lochinver which at one point covered approximately 1.5 miles.

A spokesperson said: “We mobilised three appliances – two from Ullapool and one from Lairg – and they left the scene at 5pm.”