Official: Parts of Scotland had a record-breaking wet summer

You may have already thought it, but now it’s official.

Summer 2024 has been so wet it’s a record breaker – even though some parts of the country have bucked the trend.

It was the wettest ever summer in parts of the West Highlands, with other western areas recording a summer wet enough to make it into their top three.

A weather station called Achnagart crowned the list. It’s a remote farm of the same name in the beautiful Glen Shiel.

It’s no stranger to rain, either. On average this part of Scotland can see more than 3m (9.84ft) of rain a year, often making it one of the wettest parts of Europe.

However, this summer has been its wettest on record – with 785.44mm (30.9in) of rain – and there are a few days of August still to come.

This is 165% of the area’s normal summer rainfall – the last dry day here was on 31 July.

The rain hasn’t been evenly spread either, with August seeing more than half of that rainfall. Its previous wettest summer was 2017, which at the time broke a record that had stood for 50 years.

Remember, in meteorology, we categorise summer as the months of June, July and August rather than the astronomical dates, which are defined by the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun and run about three weeks later.

Other standout spots include Kinlochewe, which has recorded its second wettest summer on record at 154% of its average.

Stornoway, Aultbea and Tyndrum all recorded their third wettest summers with an anomaly around 140%.

In many cases, it’s been the month of August in particular that’s really added to the numbers.

Millport, Threave, Eskdalemuir, Auchincruive and Glasgow have all recorded more than double their average August rainfall so far.

Millport, the tourist town on the Isle of Great Cumbrae, is on 240% of its average, with further heavy downpours expected in the last few days of the month.

The washout summer hasn’t been replicated everywhere, however.

Eastern Scotland has been notably dry over the summer season. While Glasgow saw double, Edinburgh recorded just 70% of its average summer rainfall.

Aboyne, Charterhall, Balmoral and Kinloss have all seen between 75 to 90% of their normal summer rains too.

Leuchars in Fife looks to be one of the driest spots, with just 62% of its average recorded so far. However, it was even drier here just a couple of years ago.

Despite all this rain, it looks as though the end of metrological summer may deliver us a final flourish.

High pressure is forecast to build through Friday and Saturday, bringing some drier, brighter, sunnier and warmer weather to many parts.

And it may well last into the first week of September too.