Scotland sizzled today as temperatures in Aviemore were even hotter than Portugal.
The country experienced the hottest temperatures so far this year.
Ice cream sales in the Highland town soared as the temperature peaked at 23.1C.
The warmest place in Scotland was Kinloss, which reached 23.5C, while Achnagart in Ross and Cromarty hit 23.4C and Kinlochewe 22.5C. These figures were an impressive 10C above what would normally be expected for this time of year, the Met Office said.
Meanwhile in the normally hot and sunny Portugal temperatures only reached around 16C.
Beth Banks, a waitress at Cobbs Cafe on High Street, Aviemore, said: “We have had lots of people in and a queue stretching out the door for ice creams and ice drinks today.
“It has been so warm we have had we have had people coming in the shop to stand in front of our fans and get cooled down.
“It wasn’t really weather for people to be sitting in cafes but the streets were very busy.
“We were definitely sweating at work today. But it is nice to see the weather so nice. Everyone is in great form when it is warm and the customers were all very happy so it is nice. Long may it continue.”
Unfortunately, forecaster Graeme Whipps from the Met Office said temperatures were to drop.
Speaking at 6pm last night(tue) Mr Whipps said: “We have a south easterly airflow which is bringing warm air off the continent and it’s coming across the higher ground of the Grampians.
“It is known as a phone effect where the air drys out and heats up over the mountains. We are starting to see some showers in Moray and there is currently a thunder storm to the east of Torridon.
“It is going to be turning much cooler, generally quite cloudy in the north, with rain developing throughout the north west as we go through tonight.
“Thursday and Friday look generally quite cloudy with rain at times, with the exception maybe towards Lochaber where we could see some brightness. Today was the end of the warm weather.”