December ‘wettest on record’ across parts of Highlands and Moray

Areas across the Highlands and Moray experienced record-breaking rainfall in December 2024, data shows.

An amber rain warning was issued in the run-up to the New Year, but for parts of the north and north-east that was just the conclusion of the rainiest festive season on record.

We analysed Scottish Environment Protection Agency rainfall data from hundreds of monitoring stations and found that 30 had surpassed their maximum monthly rainfall for December.

All of those stations were in the Highlands or Moray.

A total of 19 of the 70 stations found within the Highland Council area had their wettest December on record last month.

Loch Droma, near Lochdrum, recorded 354.6mm of rain in the last year of the month. It broke a record set by 304.6mm of rain in December 1999.

But the Cluanie Inn station near Glen Morison saw a staggering 818.2mm of rain last month. The previous rainiest December for the station in 2013 saw 712mm of rain.

Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the 16 rainfall stations in Moray broke their record for the wettest December.

The table below shows each of the stations where the December rainfall record was broken in 2024.

Which parts of Scotland had the wettest Hogmanay?

The unsettled weather is not due to come to a stop with the year end though.

The Met Office forecasters have already issued another weather warning for snow and ice lasting until 10am on Friday, January 3. 

But how did the yellow and amber alert-worthy weather impact the last day of the year?

The downpour on Hogmanay saw more than 40mm of rain within 24 hours in some areas, our analysis of rainfall data shows.

The most rain on New Year’s Eve itself was recorded by the Durkadale rain station on Orkney with 49mm in a single day.

That is just over a fifth of the station’s rainfall for the entirety of December.

Overall, thirteen stations recorded more than 30mm of rain in December 2024.

That includes five stations in the Highlands.

Cluanie Inn rainfall station was also included in the areas with the soggiest Hogmanay. However, its 31.2mm accounted for the smallest proportion of the station’s monthly total with 3.8%.