Some facts and figures
Scotland’s weather may be variable but it is usually temperate. Rainfall may be higher over the West Highlands, but the east coast is no wetter than other parts of Britain. The Atlantic coast benefits from the warmth of the gulf stream and palm trees grow happily along the seafront at Plockton.
Even in winter, there is not usually a great deal of snow at low level, although a few Highland roads are notorious for being blocked. Snow can be expected to lie between 10 days a year at sea level to 7 months of the year on the top of the highest peaks. On 12th March 1947, an exceptional year, drifts more than 7 metres deep were recorded in the highlands of Scotland.
The lowest recorded temperature is -27.2 C (17 F) at Braemar on 10 January 1982 and 11 February 1895 and at Altnaharra on 30 December 1995.
The fastest recorded gust of wind reached 150 knots (173 mph) at Cairngorm Automatic Weather Station on 20 March 1986. The windiest places are the Western Isles, the North West coast and Orkney and Shetland. They typically endure up to 30 days of gale per year. The maximum rainfall recorded in a day is 238 mm at Loch Lomond on 17 January 1974.
On the longest day, Lerwick has four more hours of daylight than London, but on the shortest day, there are only six hours of daylight and the sun rises only 10 degrees above the horizon. The most bright sunshine in a month was 329 hours at Tiree in May 1946 and May 1975. The lowest number of sunny days in a month was 0.6 hours at Cape Wrath in January 1983.