A tantalising taste of Spring is set to keep lifting spirits for many into the week ahead - although a return to wet and windy conditions with a risk of gales looms.

The blast of balmy air from the Americas currently bathing the British Isles have encouraged temperatures to climb into double figures in Bradford today, with some sunny spells.

Temperatures of around 10C (32F) are being experienced in Bradford this afternoon - above the 7C or 8C average for this time of year.

Temperatures are set to climb further tomorrow, when the mercury could hit 17C (62F) in parts of the south east, while Aberdeen could see highs in the mid-teens (60F). Bradford is set to see temperatures of around 11C.

However the brief respite from February's usually wintry mix will fade away as the week goes on, with strong winds and some gales forecast from Thursday.

Met Office forecaster Marco Petagna said: "We have a bit of an east/west split developing across the UK. Across eastern areas it will be a dry day with sunny spells at times, especially in the morning.

"The south east might start with some low cloud, mist and fog but that will lift and they will have a fine day.

"In the west and north west the cloud will be thicker and there will be increasing fog in the afternoon and later in the day.

"There will be drizzle at times in the west and rain will become more persistent over the west of Scotland, with it turning increasingly windy in the north."

However it will be downhill from Tuesday as a front from Atlantic beats back the mild Caribbean plume.

"There will be a trend for temperatures to slowly come back down through the rest of the week, with a fairly unsettled picture developing," Mr Petagna said.

"Tuesday night could see gales in the north and north east of Scotland with gusts over 50mph, while almost any exposed areas across the UK will those gales on Thursday.

"At the moment they are not expected to be strong enough for it to become a named storm, but it will be blustery for many."