Snow and sunshine make Easter sizzle

THOUSANDS headed to ­Scotland’s ski slopes yesterday despite the country basking in the first heatwave of the year – with temperatures reaching as high as 68F (20C).

Child playing in Scottish parkWATTIE CHEUGH

While keen skiers took to the pistes, hundreds others enjoyed the sunshine

Keen skiers and snowboarders took to the pistes on the country’s hottest day of 2015 so far, while hundreds of families gathered in many of the country’s parks to enjoy picking daffodils and rolling eggs.

Staff at the CairnGorm mountain near Aviemore counted over 2,000 gliding up and down their slopes, while a further 600 were spotted at Glencoe.

Janette Jansson, operator Natural Retreats’ general manager, said yesterday: “It is a day for sunglasses and suncream as the visitors enjoyed the fantastic Easter weather.

“Hopefully, the weather stays like this for the rest of the week and we can get some great late season skiing.” Glencoe’s Mariann Chisholm said: “We have good snow and we are hoping to keep going for another three or four weeks yet.”

While another 600 winter sports enthusiasts were making use of the snow left on the Nevis Range and a further 700 on the mountain gondola, Glenshee and The Lecht closed their skiing season.

A spokeswoman for the Nevis Range said: “We have plenty of snow left – we normally run out of customers before we run out of snow.”

However, away from the slopes, people spending their Easter Sunday in Aberdeen were basking in temperatures of around 68F, while Inverness saw sunny skies with temperatures of 66F.

Within days of suffering snow falls, families flocked to parks and open spaces all over Scotland.

At Glasgow Green, characters from Disney’s award-winning film Frozen kept a smile on children’s faces. Laura Gilmour, 19, from Carluke in Lanarkshire, was dressed as Elsa while friend Debbie Cutler, 23, played Anna.

The teenager said: “Everyone’s so happy. The kids have loved getting their picture taken with us.” Craig Snell of the Met Office said: “It’s been a cracking day across Scotland. You have certainly had the lions’ share of the good weather with the exception of the Solway coast, where it has struggled to reach seven degrees Celsius (45F) in the fog.

“Glasgow is 15C (59F) at the moment but Edinburgh is 17C (63F) and Inverness is 19C (66F). The only place in England that has come close to the top temperatures in Scotland is Northumberland, just over the border, at 18.3C.”

Advice on keeping children cool during hot weather - Met Office

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?