WEATHER: Temperatures to soar next week in NI

But according to forecaster Craig Snell from the Met Office "there are a couple of dull and wet days to come but after that things should improve".

"It is going to feel humid over the next couple of days but there will be a much brighter end to the week," he said.

"The rest of today (Monday) will have cloud and patchy rain. Temperatures have struggled a little bit compared to what we have seen over the last few weeks. It is 17/18 degrees today which isn't too bad, but a lot lower than in the last few weeks.

"Going into tonight the good news is that it will be fairly comfortable as you are in the fresh air mass.

"It will be dry and clear with temperatures probably around 9 or 10 degrees. "

He added that tomorrow "will have a promising start if you are up early enough with sunshine around" but it will then "turn cloudier from the west".

"As we go towards the middle of the day it will be grey with rain," he added. "The rain will be persistent in the afternoon, especially across the Mournes.

"Temperatures will be 14/15 degrees but it will still be feeling quite humid."

There will not be a lot of change on Wednesday to start off with, "but the good news is as we go towards the afternoon it should begin to brighten up, sunshine should make an appearance and we should also lose the humidity".

He added: "Hopefully you will see more sunshine into the afternoon and temperatures should be a bit higher, around 17/18 degrees."

Mr Snell said these conditions "will continue into Friday and Saturday."

"In the brighter moments temperatures will climb into the high teen categories 16-18 - and on Saturday temperatures could climb to 20 degrees," he added.

"It is the longest day of the year on Thursday. There are a couple of dull and wet days to come but after that things should improve."

However it is all change again next week - where "at the moment it looks like the settled weather will continue for the early part of the week.

"There is a good chance you will have temperatures in the early 20's next week," he said.

"There is a possibility of fine dry weather on offer next week. But any sunshine at this time of the year is not gong to feel too bad at all.

"So it is not all bad news when we get rid of today, tomorrow and the first half of Wednesday."