Fife enjoyed one of its hottest September days on record on Wednesday – as the kingdom recorded temperatures into the mid-20s.
One weather station measured its warmest September day since records began 15 years ago, as the mercury rose towards 25C.
It also marked the hottest day so far of 2021, overtaking a temperature recorded by the station during the summer.
It came as Scotland broke the record for the hottest September day in more than 100 years.
Fife hotter than parts of Portugal
Graham Smith, who runs the Fife Weather page, posted data from his Lochgelly monitoring station on Twitter.
He wrote: “Today has broken my station’s maximum September temperature record already, with 23.3° recorded a few moments ago.
“The previous station record was set in September 2016 at 22.7°. My station records began in 2006.”
#Fife #Weather at 13:00
🌡24.6°C (🔺24.9°C/🔻12.3°C)
💧65%RH
🌬ESE 2.9mph, MaxGust 8.1mph
🌀1012mb 🔽
☔0.0mm/hr, Accum 0mm
🏭Air Quality Idx: 1🟢 (Low Pollution Levels)— FifeWeather.co.uk (@fifeweather) September 8, 2021
Later in the afternoon, weather watcher Graham confirmed: “Today is now the holder of the 2021 maximum temperature record of 24.9°C at 12:36.
“Amazing to think this has occurred in meteorological autumn! The previous max for 2021 was 24.8 °C on 26/07/2021, so today has only scrapped past. But still!”
Conditions were hotter across Fife and parts of Tayside than several European countries, including areas of Portugal.
Yellow weather warning for thunderstorms
However the sunny weather will be short-lived, as the Met Office has released a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms across the UK on Thursday.
Weather warnings will be in effect between 10am and 8pm.
Forecasters have said that heavy showers and thunderstorms can be expected with the potential for surface water flooding in some locations.
Sepa has also issued a flood alert for Fife and Tayside.