Summer is set to make a late return with bright, warm conditions prevailing and temperatures rising as high as 25 degrees at the weekend.

Monday is expected to be a fine October day, with maximum temperatures of between 15 and 17 degrees in the afternoon and light cloud cover, particularly in the north, according to weather forecasting agency weeronline.nl.

But as the week goes on the clouds are likely to give way to bright sunshine and 24 or 25 degree heat in southern provinces. Nights will also be unseasonably warm, dipping to a minimum of 12-14 degrees.

The highest chance of rain is on Thursday or Friday, when the temperature is expected to drop by one or two degrees before climbing back into the mid-twenties at the weekend.