Altnaharra
| Altnaharra Gaelic: Allt na h-Eirbhe | |
| Sutherland | |
|---|---|
 Altnaharra Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NC567352 |
| Location: | 58°16’48"N, 4°27’0"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Lairg |
| Postcode: | IV27 |
| Dialling code: | 01549 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Highland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross |
Altnaharra is a small hamlet in Sutherland, at the head of Loch Naver.
The hamlet may be found on the A836 road, close to its junction with the B873. It has no nearby villages: the nearest villages of any size are Lairg to the south and Tongue on the north coast, both far from Altnaharra. Lochs in the area include Loch Naver and Loch Eriboll.
The name 'Altnaharra' is derived from the Gaelic Allt na h-Eirbhe, meaning 'Stream at the boundary wall'. This is named after a stream that flows through the hamlet before entering the head of the loch.
Altnaharra is known 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, and on 30 December 1995, the United Kingdom's lowest temperature ever was recorded there, at −27.2 °C. This matched a similar recording at Braemar in the Grampians on 11 February 1895 and on 10 January 1982.
On 20 March 2009, the Altnaharra weather station was recorded as the warmest place in the United Kingdom, at 18.5°C, which was the station's warmest recorded March temperature and possibly the first time the station had recorded the warmest UK temperature.[1] This was beaten on 25 March 2017 when the station recorded 19.7°C. Also on 26 May 2017, the station recorded its highest May temperature of 28.0°C beating the previous 27.4°C recorded on 27 May 2012.[2][3] On 8 January 2010, the temperature dipped to −22.3°C, the coldest temperature recorded in the UK since 1995.[4] On 3 November 2015 the warmest November temperature of 16.1°C was reached,[5] followed by 15.6°C on 17 December 2015 being the warmest December temperature on record at the weather station.[6] On 25 January 2016, the highest January temperature of 13.9°C was reached.[7]
Outside links
References
- ↑ https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2009/march
- ↑ https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/05-2012/ws-30440.html
- ↑ https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/05-2017/ws-30440.html
- ↑ https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/2010/ws-30440.html
- ↑ https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/11-2015/ws-30440.html
- ↑ https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/12-2015/ws-30440.html
- ↑ https://en.tutiempo.net/climate/01-2016/ws-30440.html
