A SCOTTISH mountain has been dusted with snowfall and hail as the unseasonally cold weather is predicted to continue for the rest of the week.
Cairngorm Mountain has been covered in light snowfall and hail following a particularly cold start to June which is uncommon for this time of year.
Temperatures at the tourist hot spot are usually around 13C to 16C at the start of summer and the mercury can get as low as 9C but is very uncommon for June.
However, the Met Office has recorded temperatures of –2C at the top of the mountain today, June 4, which is far colder than usual.
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The unseasonably cold weather is to continue this week as the Met Office say the high ground in Scotland is likely to see more snow on Wednesday as cold air travels down the country.
The rest of the week is predicted to remain around the 12C mark across the central belt and is to be particularly wet, although the weekend is supposed to be slightly drier with only some light showers.
Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth reported: “It's going to turn a little bit colder particularly through Tuesday and into Wednesday when we see this dive of cold air from the north spread across the country.
“It won't move particularly quickly south and eastwards and will arrive into north and west first of all through Tuesday.”
Shuttleworth added: “Now that cold air continues to dive south and eastwards through the night on Tuesday night into Wednesday and this occluded front brings the focus of some quite heavy showers through Wednesday morning.
“And those showers could fall as snow over the high ground of Scotland, which is not that typical for early summer but isn't completely unusual.
“Snow is only really expected over above 600m in Scotland.”
This week's cold weather follows the news that the UK had its warmest May and meteorological spring on record according to Met Office figures.
May 2024’s average mean temperature of 13.1C for the UK beat 2008’s previous record figure of 12.1C in a series that dates back to 1884.
Scotland played a large part in the new record as the country's May mean temperature of 12.3C beating 2018’s previous record by a staggering 1.6C.
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