The temperature at Aboyne today reached 17.9C which equals Scotland's February maximum temperature record, last reached in Aberdeen in 1897.

READ MORE: Scotland set for 'hottest February on record' 

It is slightly behind the highest ever temperature recorded in Scotland which was February 13 in Greenwich in 1998. 

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "A powerful jetstream and cold air feeding out of North America into the West Atlantic is generating deep areas of low pressure here.

"Meanwhile, further east this is helping to build a marked ridge of high pressure and drawing some exceptionally mild air across the UK.