Altnaharra

Altnaharra (Scottish Gaelic: Allt na h-Eirbhe)[1] is a small hamlet in Sutherland in the Highland region of northern Scotland. The hamlet is on the A836 road, close to its junction with the B873. The nearest villages are Lairg and Tongue. Lochs in the area include Loch Naver and Loch Eriboll.

Altnaharra
  • Scottish Gaelic: Allt na h-Eirbhe

Altnaharra Church
Altnaharra
Location within the Sutherland area
OS grid referenceNC567352
• Edinburgh168 mi (270 km)
• London498 mi (801 km)
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLAIRG
Postcode districtIV27
Dialling code01549
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament

The name Altnaharra is derived from the Scottish Gaelic Allt na h-Eirbhe, meaning Stream at the boundary wall. This is named after a stream that flows through the hamlet.

Altnaharra is famous for the Altnaharra Hotel, which opened in 1820 and quickly became a popular place for anglers to stay while visiting nearby lochs. The hotel was also popular with mountain climbers; it generally closes for winter and re-opens in March. Ben Hope and Ben Klibreck are two mountains in the immediate area of the hamlet.

Weather station

Altnaharra has a Met Office weather station. The village's northerly latitude and inland location mean that in winter it often features in the daily weather extremes for the United Kingdom. It is unusual in that the coldest month of the year is normally December. On 30 December 1995, the UK's lowest temperature ever was recorded there, at −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F). This matched a similar recording at Braemar in the Grampians on 11 February 1895 and on 10 January 1982.

On 20 March 2009, it was recorded as the warmest place in the UK, at 18.5 °C (65.3 °F), which was the station's warmest recorded March temperature and possibly the first time the station had recorded the warmest UK temperature.[2] The station also reported the equal warmest national temperature of 12.3 °C (54.1 °F), with Tain on 20 January 2020.[3] On 19 June 2020, the station had both the warmest temperature, 22.2 °C (72.0 °F), and the coldest temperature, 7.6 °C (45.7 °F), reported anywhere in the United Kingdom on that day.[4] The March 2009 temperature was beaten on 25 March 2017 when the station recorded 19.7 °C (67.5 °F). Also on 26 May 2017, the station recorded its highest May temperature of 28.0 °C (82.4 °F), beating the previous 27.4 °C (81.3 °F) recorded on 27 May 2012.[5][6] On 8 January 2010, the temperature dipped to −22.3 °C (−8.1 °F), the coldest temperature recorded in the UK since 1995.[7] On 3 November 2015 the warmest November temperature of 16.1 °C (61.0 °F) was reached,[8] followed by 15.6 °C (60.1 °F) on 17 December 2015 being the warmest December temperature on record at the weather station.[9] On 25 January 2016, the highest January temperature of 13.9 °C (57.0 °F) was reached.[10]

Climate data for Altnaharra
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 13.9
(57.0)		 13.6
(56.5)		 19.7
(67.5)		 24.5
(76.1)		 28.0
(82.4)		 28.4
(83.1)		 30.1
(86.2)		 29.2
(84.6)		 25.3
(77.5)		 21.7
(71.1)		 16.1
(61.0)		 15.6
(60.1)		 30.1
(86.2)
Average high °C (°F) 6.2
(43.2)		 6.6
(43.9)		 8.3
(46.9)		 10.9
(51.6)		 14.1
(57.4)		 16.0
(60.8)		 17.8
(64.0)		 17.7
(63.9)		 15.5
(59.9)		 12.0
(53.6)		 8.6
(47.5)		 6.1
(43.0)		 11.7
(53.1)
Average low °C (°F) −0.8
(30.6)		 −0.8
(30.6)		 0.7
(33.3)		 2.1
(35.8)		 4.0
(39.2)		 7.1
(44.8)		 9.7
(49.5)		 9.3
(48.7)		 6.8
(44.2)		 4.5
(40.1)		 1.8
(35.2)		 −1.3
(29.7)		 3.6
(38.5)
Record low °C (°F) −22.3
(−8.1)		 −25.0
(−13.0)		 −21.7
(−7.1)		 −10.0
(14.0)		 −6.4
(20.5)		 −3.1
(26.4)		 −1.0
(30.2)		 −2.0
(28.4)		 −4.0
(24.8)		 −9.7
(14.5)		 −22.1
(−7.8)		 −27.2
(−17.0)		 −27.2
(−17.0)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 142.4
(5.61)		 108.4
(4.27)		 115.9
(4.56)		 74.5
(2.93)		 60.8
(2.39)		 60.2
(2.37)		 61.1
(2.41)		 66.7
(2.63)		 106.5
(4.19)		 139.4
(5.49)		 127.7
(5.03)		 132.7
(5.22)		 1,196.3
(47.10)
Average rainy days 19.1 17.3 19.1 15.0 13.0 13.0 12.4 14.4 15.9 20.0 18.9 18.1 196.2
Source 1: Met Office 1981-2010 averages[11]
Source 2: En.tutiempo[12]

Notable persons
  • Linda Norgrove, kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and killed by a US grenade during a rescue effort, was born at Altnaharra.

References
  1. Microsoft; Nokia (27 February 2017). "Altnaharra" (Map). Bing Maps. Microsoft. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  2. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2009/march
  3. https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1219411068201598982
  4. https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1274107131780894723
  5. https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/05-2012/ws-30440.html
  6. https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/05-2017/ws-30440.html
  7. https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/2010/ws-30440.html
  8. https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/11-2015/ws-30440.html
  9. https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/12-2015/ws-30440.html
  10. https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/01-2016/ws-30440.html
  11. "Altnaharra SAWS climate". Met Office. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  12. https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/ws-30440.html

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