Warm and sunny bank holiday weather set to continue all week in NI

And the forecast is for more of the same, continuing well into next week.

On Sunday, the Met Office described the temperatures – in the low 20s across southern England and reaching 20C in parts of Fermanagh and Tyrone – as the first “hint of summer”.

The fine, settled weather continued in many areas of Northern Ireland on bank holiday Monday, with temperatures again reaching 20C.

The forecast for Tuesday is a lingering overnight mist which will burn off to leave a dry, warm and sunny day, with a maximum temperature of 22C.

Commenting on the outlook for Wednesday to Friday in NI, the Met Office said: “Little change, high pressure will continue to bring dry and sunny weather. Remaining warm in many places, and very warm in the southwest.”

In relation to the weekend and into next week, the Met Office said: “Settled conditions are likely to dominate throughout this period with plenty of dry and bright weather across the country, the best of the sunny spells expected across the west. By the end of the period, there is an outside chance of some occasionally thundery showers and slightly stronger winds reaching southern areas. Generally feeling warm by day, especially in the sheltered west.”

The good weather brought the crowds to the popular north coast, providing a boost for the hospitality sector.

“It was lovely all weekend and it was lovely here again today (Monday),” a spokeswoman for the Anchor Bar Complex in Portstewart said.

"July and August would be our busiest time, but the bar and the bistro have been really busy. In the good weather people tend to eat out, and with today being so nice we have been really, really busy. I think it has made people go out.”

The hottest UK temperature of the year so far (24.4C) was recorded in Plymouth on Sunday, narrowly beating Saturday’s high of 24.3C in Bramham, West Yorkshire.

Met Office chief forecaster, Paul Gundersen, said: “The jet stream sitting to the north of the UK is holding unsettled weather systems at bay and allowing high pressure to dominate bringing fine weather to the vast majority of the UK.