SCOTLAND enjoyed its warmest day of the year so far yesterday with the north east hitting the 21C (70F) mark.

Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire recorded the top temperature when the country consigned the ‘Beast from the East’ to no more than a distant memory.

In London, the mercury soared to 29.1C (84F) at St James’s Park, making it the UK’s hottest April day since 1949.

Weathermen say that had it nudged a bit higher, to 29.4C, it would have made yesterday the warmest April day on record. Becky Mitchell of the Met Office, said: “It’s been a scorcher. In England, it was wall-to-wall sunshine.

“But Scotland also recorded the warmest day of the year so far, with that 21C at Fyvie Castle.

“The south westerly winds tend to favour the north east, which has seen the least amount of cloud across Scotland. Not everywhere has seen that nice, warm, sunshine.

“Temperatures have varied a lot because of extensive cloud cover. In Edinburgh, the weather station at Botanic Garden registered 19.9C (67F) while Glasgow was a little bit cooler because of cloud at 16C (60F).”