Northern Ireland reached 23.7C today in a week of scorching September weather which is being referred to by some as an 'Indian Summer' - a full seven degrees above average for this time of year.

The surprise sunshine brought smiles right across Northern Ireland, with the average temperature in the east of the province being 21C and 20C in the west.

"The average at this time of year for Northern Ireland is about 15 or 16 so we are a full seven degrees above average in places today (Tuesday)," Met Office forecaster Becky Mitchell told the News Letter.

While the Met Office does not formally use the term 'Indian Summer', she told the News Letter that day time temperatures should remain in the low twenties all week, but dip to the high teens on Saturday and Sunday.

Magilligan was the hottest part of NI yesterday at 23.7C, with the Giants Causeway reaching 23.1C and Armagh 22.9C.

Yet despite the heat, Becky said we were nowhere close to hitting any obvious records.

"This is because last year, Northern Ireland got its highest September temperature on record, of 28C. So we're not expecting temperatures to be that high this week."

Monday was almost as warm, with a peak temperature of 21.8 at Derrylin.

And Wednesday and Thursday could both reach 21C with 20C possible on Friday too, so it is quite a prolonged period of warm weather."

"So for the next few days, we've got blue skies, lots of sunshine during the day, and that's going to help the temperatures rise.

"Even Saturday and Sunday will probably reach the high teens but there will be a little more cloud cover and the potential of some showers on Sunday."

However nights this week may drop as low as 2-3C with figgy conditions early in the morning.

However the Indian Summer dream looks set to give way to the promise of Autumn next week.

"It looks like we could start to see bands of rain shift in from the west and Northern Ireland, obviously being quite far west of the UK, could be in for a chance to see some heavier rain. There are no obvious signs of any particularly warm weather for next week. So this week is the warmest Northern Ireland is expecting in September."

Northern Ireland 'Indian Summer': Temperatures a full seven degrees average for September