Highest Temperature Ever Recorded in Glasgow: The Historic Heat at Aberfoyle

Updated: 2026-08-01

The point of measurement closest to Glasgow is the Met Office station at Aberfoyle, situated at an altitude of 28 m, approximately 35.6 km from the city centre. These are its historical records, drawn from the official Met Office MIDAS archive, covering the period from 1968 to 2001.

It is important to note that the climate of Glasgow itself can differ from what this station records, due to local factors such as altitude differences, proximity to rivers or sheltered valleys, and urban heat effects. The data presented here is the best available reference for the area, but it is not an exact measurement of Glasgow's weather. It reflects what was measured at Aberfoyle.

The July Day That Never Quite Made It

On 30 June 1995, the thermometer at Aberfoyle climbed to 29.7°C — a value unmatched in the entire recorded series from 1968 through 2001. It was not a one-off spike: another day, 29 June 1995, also appears in the top five, when the station recorded a maximum of 27.9°C, with a chilly minimum of just 5.9°C. This sharp diurnal swing (from 5.9°C to 27.9°C) is characteristic of clear, dry June days in central Scotland.

But the absolute peak, the one that still holds the crown, remains 29.7°C — a temperature you would typically associate with southern England, not the highlands gateway.

The Five Warmest Days on Record

Looking at the complete daily series, these are the five days where the mercury climbed highest at Aberfoyle. Each entry shows the date, the maximum temperature, and the minimum temperature recorded that same day:

Notice something striking: the top five includes three days from the year 1995 — the summer of 1995 was exceptional. Also interesting is the August day, 12 August 1995, which reached 28.2°C with a very warm minimum of 15.9°C, indicating a humid, uncomfortable night — quite different from the dry June days.

The Warmest Day in Each Month

Here is the record maximum temperature (and the average maximum) for each month of the year, across the full 1968–2001 series. This helps you see which months can still surprise you with heat:

The monthly pattern is revealing: June holds the absolute record (29.7°C), but August has a higher average maximum (19.4°C) than June (17.6°C). This makes sense — Scottish summers warm slowly, and August is typically the most consistently warm month, even if June can throw up a single exceptional day.

Notice the winter months: January's record is 12.8°C and December reaches 14.0°C. A December day at 14.0°C in Aberfoyle would feel like spring — a reminder that even the coldest months here can occasionally produce remarkably mild days thanks to Atlantic air masses.

Year by Year: The Annual Maxim

Finally, here is the record maximum temperature for each individual year in the series. You can see how the hottest day of each year varied from 1968 through 2001. Note that the record year of 1995 stands out clearly, but also that some years in the mid-1970s were weaker, and there is a clear data gap:

Several observations stand out. First, the data has gaps: the years 1987 through 1993 have no recorded maximum temperatures in this series, and 1975 and 1978 show unusually low values (11.5°C and 15.5°C respectively), which suggests incomplete data for those summers rather than genuinely cold years. The period from 1994 onwards is complete and continuous.

Second, 1995 towers above everything — not just with the record 29.7°C, but also with three of the top five days occurring that summer. It was genuinely a historic year for heat in this part of Scotland.

Third, the more recent years (1994–2001) consistently show annual maxima in the range of 24.1°C to 29.7°C, with most years exceeding 24°C — a sign that hot days (by Scottish standards) have been a regular feature of recent decades at this location.

What This Means for Glasgow

If you live in or are planning to visit Glasgow, these figures give you a realistic sense of what "hot" means here. A day above 25°C is rare and celebrated; a day reaching 29.7°C is the kind of event that happens maybe once in several decades. The fact that it occurred in June 1995 — and has not been beaten in the years since — tells you that Glasgow's climate, through the lens of its nearest weather station, does not produce extreme heat often.

When planning outdoor events, be aware that the warmest month on average is August (with a mean maximum of 19.4°C), and that July is close behind (19.0°C). June's average is cooler (17.6°C), but it carries the potential for the absolute highest spike — as 1995 proved.

For those interested in climate change: the data we have here covers 1968–2001. Within that window, the most recent complete decade (the 1990s) produced the record. Whether more recent years have surpassed it would require looking at data beyond 2001, which is not included in this series.

Source and Methodology

All temperature figures on this page come from the official Met Office MIDAS archive (Integrated Data Archive System), the UK national meteorological service's authoritative dataset. The specific station is Aberfoyle, located at 28 m altitude in Perthshire-in-Central-Region, approximately 35.6 km from Glasgow. The data covers the period from 1 January 1968 to 1 October 2001.

This page reports the measurements as they were recorded. You can trust these numbers because they come directly from the national weather service's instruments — not from estimates or interpolations. For today's weather in Glasgow, always check the current Met Office forecast; for historical context of the kind shown here, this is the definitive record.

Source: Met Office MIDAS — Aberfoyle station, 1968–2001

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