Most of the UK will enjoy warm, sunny weather this weekend as temperatures are set to rise to near record levels for February, the Met Office has said.

This time last year, temperatures were plummeting as Britain braced itself for the arrival of the Beast from the East, which hit at the start of March.

This year, temperatures could be as high as 18C (64.4F) on Saturday in some places, and most will see a lot of sunshine.

The warmest February since records began was in 1998 when temperatures hit 19.7C (67.4F), and the Met Office said there is the “potential to get close” to those readings.

“There is an outside chance we could get close to that,” a spokesman said.

In Scotland the balmy weather may be close to beating the February record of 17.9C (64.2F), as the forecast is for 16C (60.8F) on Saturday.

“Scotland could get into mid-teens, possibly a little bit higher, possibly the record could be broken,” the Met Office said.

The start of the week is predicted to be changeable with some cloud, before pressure builds, turning the weather “increasingly bright and sunny” for the weekend.

The Met Office online forecast says “dry and sunny weather will dominate” during the latter half of the week and temperatures will become “very mild”.