Areas in Central Scotland are expected to be hit with close to 30C temperatures as the heatwave continues this week.
Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and Glasgow could reach around 29C on Thursday afternoon and 28C along the west Highland coast on Friday.
Wednesday’s temperatures made it another sweltering day for much of Scotland with Renfrewshire once again exceeding 27C to reach second place in today’s hot spot list.
The warmest place was Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway which hit 28C, not a million miles off its July record of 29.8C recorded in 2019 and 1976.
Braemar was also up there with a high of 27.4C this afternoon, making it the hottest July day in the village for over 15 years.
STV Meteorologist Sean Batty said: “ The heat has been building for what seems like weeks now and looks likely to peak in central and southern Scotland on Thursday and the north west coast on Friday.
“Temperatures will slowly moderate into the weekend, although it will still be in the low 20s in the west until next week. Next week should see most areas back into the teens.
“The exception to this warm weather has been the far north and north east where temperatures have struggled with low cloud and haar.”
Despite peak temperatures on the mainland, mercury struggled to get to 12C in Shetland and 15C in the Isle of Harris.
However, Sean said Harris and Lewis should warm up in the coming days with the west of the island possibly reaching the mid 20s on Friday.
He added: “While the sun bakes the ground and continues to remove moisture, the lack of rainfall is meaning that grass is starting to die off in places and plants struggling.
“Out of 51 weather stations in Scotland, currently 36 of those have recorded less than half their normal July rainfall with just a week of the month left.
“The driest place just now is Islay where only 2mm of rain has fallen of a 79mm average for July.
“Lerwick has only reported 18mm, which again could make it the driest July on record, which would be far more significant, because the records here go back over 100 years.”
Sean has also issued a warning to dog owners not to leave their pets in cars during high temperatures after he conducted an experiment.
In 27C heat, he left his car in a sunny spot with a thermometer inside and after just 30 minutes, the temperature rocketed to 47C.
He urged pet owners not to leave “anything precious” inside the car during high temperatures, adding that it is dangerous and could be fatal.
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