YELLOWBELLIES may need to dig out their shorts and sunglasses again because Lincolnshire is set for an Indian summer.

Weather experts say that a mini heat wave will hit the county this week, with temperatures expected to soar as high as 24°C.

The unseasonable sunshine is being caused by high pressure from Europe which has drifted northwards, bringing with it warm southerly winds.

Friday and Saturday are expected to be the warmest days of week, indicating a promising start to the weekend.

And a temperature of 24°C is only a couple of points on the thermometer cooler than holiday hotspots such as New Delhi in India and Madrid in Spain.

Experts also believe it will take several more days for the weather to drop off, with next week's temperatures expected to be in the high teens and early twenties.

Jonathan Powell, senior forecaster at Positive Weather Solutions, confirmed that Lincolnshire would be basking in sunshine this week.

He said: "We're going to be looking at about 24°C in Lincolnshire for tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.

"We can certainly go into the weekend with that sort of guise as well, with plenty of dry, sunny weather around.

"If this was the start of August and we had this high pressure, we could have been looking comfortably at temperatures in the late twenties, but with the time of year we can't really expect that.

"But normally, we'd see temperatures between 14°C and 17°C for this time of year.

"This area of high pressure is so intense and high reaching, it looks like it's going to anchor down bringing more than seven days of sunny, dry weather.

"Next week the temperatures will ebb back down to the late teens and early twenties, so it's going to be a slow retreat back and there won't be a huge contrast.

"October itself is going to be a very dry month indeed off the back of this, but getting colder towards the end."

Met Office forecaster Helen Waite agreed that the week ahead would be unseasonably warm.

She said: "The high pressure building over the next few days will bring clear skies and sunshine.

"Temperatures will start to rise today and continue to do so through the rest of the week as warm air comes up from the south."