Aberdeen Sees Sun After 21 Days – Longest Sunless Streak Since 1957 | Scotland Weather

Aberdeen Experiences First Sunshine in 21 Days, Ending Record-Breaking Gloom

Aberdeen residents finally glimpsed the sun late Thursday afternoon, marking the end of the longest continuous period without sunshine in the city since records began in 1957. The last time sunshine was recorded in Aberdeen was on January 21st.

The Met Office officially recorded 30 minutes of sunshine in the Dyce area between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM on Thursday. This respite from the unrelenting grey comes after weeks of heavy rain and cloud cover that have impacted daily life across the north-east of Scotland.

“It’s honestly very strange,” said Kate Finlay, a 21-year-old University of Aberdeen student. “The first thing I did when I came out of the flat was message my friends, like ‘guys the sun’s out.’ It’s really weird, I opened the curtains, and thought ‘oh it feels brighter than it did’, and then went outside and it was a blue sky. I was really taken aback to be honest. It’s actually been really hard, being trapped in the house as it’s so wet, we don’t want to walk anywhere or do an awful lot. It’s been pretty miserable – so so happy that it’s finally back.”

The prolonged lack of sunshine followed heavy snow in the first 10 days of 2026, which then transitioned into persistent rainfall. Aboyne in Aberdeenshire experienced over 277mm of rain during January alone – approximately four times the monthly average. This extreme weather has affected various sectors, including football matches, North Sea oil workers, farmers, and even pothole repairs.

While the sunshine offered a welcome change, the wintry conditions are not yet over. A yellow warning for snow and ice remains in place for most of Scotland and northern England until 12 noon on Friday. The Met Office spokesperson Grahame Madge explained that an air mass called Arctic maritime air is responsible for the colder temperatures.

“The snow and ice warnings that we’ve issued at the moment cover pretty much Scotland and northern parts of England,” Madge said. “There may be some snow showers a little bit further south than that. We’re not expecting any particularly impactful snow and the conditions will be quite brief before we get another system coming in from the Atlantic over the weekend, but for the next few days it will feel quite a bit different, as we’ve got colder air coming in.”

BBC Scotland weather presenter Judith Ralston added that the change in weather signifies a break from a “stuck pattern of cloud, rain, and bitingly cold winds.” Ralston anticipates drier, brighter conditions with sunshine on Friday and Saturday, alongside a few wintry showers on Friday.

The return of sunshine, however brief, provides a much-needed boost to morale for residents who have endured an unusually long stretch of gloomy weather. The prolonged period of darkness has been a stark reminder of the impact of weather patterns on daily life in the region.