For many across the Northern UK overnight probably thought it was a January night and not a July night. Heavy and at times torrential rainfall was accompanied by gale-force gusts of wind from an unusually deep and tightly wound 990mb low skirting Scotland’s North Coast. Persistent gusts to 49 mph have caused havoc at the Open Championship in St Andrews, Fife along with a flooded course.

Wind gusts topped an autumn or winter-like 50 mph at Edinburgh’s Blackford Hill while over the Highlands gusts touched a hurricane-force 75 mph over the summit of Aonach Mor near Fort William.

However, the prize goes to infamously windy and exposed Cairngorm Summit near Aviemore where gusts early this morning clocked an impressive 91 mph. With a brief glance at the records, it appears that 91 mph gust is the strongest over the UK during July in at least 19 years according to Matt Taylor of the BBC.

Back in 1996 a gust of around 90 mph was recorded over Cairngorm and in 2013 a gust of 83 mph was recorded. This follows a very warm open to July where temps topped 29C at Aviemore and along the Moray coast followed by the coldest July night for 2 Scottish sites the week after.

Powerful winds are just the latest in the wild swings and extremes this July and summer is throwing at us. It’s making for a rather interesting year from a meteorological point of view even if it’s not the kind of summer many would have hoped for. If you’ve been following for a while, you’ll know this was the kind of summer coming!

TOP IMAGE CREDIT: STV

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