Scotland had hottest June on record, says Met Office

June 2023 was also Scotland's third sunniest on record

Scotland had its hottest June on record, the Met Office has confirmed.

Its newly-released provisional figures show the average mean, or daily, temperature for Scotland was 14.3C, which was 2.7C higher than average.

The Met Office warned last month that Scotland - along with the rest of the UK - had likely experienced record long-lasting warm weather in June.

The conditions surpassed those experienced in the Junes of 1940 and 1976.

Parts of the Scottish Highlands were 3.5C above average, according to the Met Office.

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Its provisional figures also suggest Scotland had its third sunniest June on record with 231.4 hours of sunshine.

It was also drier than normal, but did not reach a significant record level.

The Met Office said the UK, as well as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all recorded their respective warmest June in a series of figures dating back to 1884.

In Scotland, there were warnings of the risk of water shortages in some places.

On Friday, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said the rivers Annan and Nith, the Black Isle and Western Isles had a "significant" water scarcity situation.

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The Highlands' Loch Maree area has been at that level - Sepa's highest - for four weeks.

A small number of farmers on the Black Isle, north of Inverness, have been asked to reduce the volume of water they take from a burn.

Sepa warned that six more areas could be categorised as significant early this month.