New data has revealed that our recent temperature record for January could have been broken by quite some margin more.

Sunday 28th January 2024 saw the UK's highest temperature for the month of January be broken in Scotland, as Kinlochewe soared to a staggering 19.6°C, 1.3°C above the previous record of 18.3°C.

However, the Met Office have just revealed that a manual reading at another weather station, Achfary, also in north-west Scotland provisionally recorded a temperature of 19.9°C on that same Sunday.

This, if confirmed, would make the new January temperature record for the UK 19.9°C, now 1.6°C above the previous record. If verified, Achfary will hold the maximum temperature records for both December & January in the UK, holding 18.7°C in December.

The Met Office has a network of weather stations across the entirety of the UK, comprising approximately 260 automatic weather stations and 140 manual ones.

Climate observations from manual weather stations are made at set times in the day, often only once or twice, recording minimum and maximum temperatures, and are slower to receive. Automatic data on the other hand is instantaneous, recording hourly observations.

All weather records must undergo an internationally-agreed, rigorous quality-control process, adhering to the World Meteorological Organisation standards, and can take several months to be confirmed. This is why they are termed 'provisional' records initially.