Irish barbecue enthusiasts are going Mediterranean this year – and they’re about to get some balmy weather to match.

Met Éireann said it expects some ‘very warm or even hot days’ this week, as mainland Europe swelters under another alarming heatwave.

The national meteorological service is predicting temperatures in the mid to high 20s for the coming days, with ‘sultry’ nights anticipated.

As the country went al fresco with restaurants and cafés setting out their pavement dining tables and chairs, Damien Kelly, director of OutdoorLiving.ie, said yesterday was an ‘extremely busy’ day at their showrooms around the country as garden owners look to make the most of the incoming fine weather.

He told Extra.ie a ‘massive’ seller so far has been their ‘Mediterranean-style’ barbecues – concrete structures with chimneys which stay in place all year round once they’re installed.

‘We find that they’re very popular because a lot of people like the Mediterranean lifestyle,’ Mr Kelly said, adding that the ‘very robust’ outdoor grills also carry a 20-year warranty.

Several hundred kilos in weight, they have to be delivered to customers and assembled on site.

The second big trend is another garden feature borrowed from hotter climes – pergolas, though it is the modern ‘bioclimatic’ kind that sell best here with our famously ‘whimsical’ weather.

‘It can protect you from the sunshine, or you can open up the louvres and let the sun in,’ Mr Kelly explained.

‘And then you can let the wind in to cool you down, or you can block out the shade or the rain as well.

‘Irish summers are very changeable, so that’s an ideal structure for coping with your showers and your rain.’

Met Éireann forecasts long spells of sunshine today, turning hazy later, with highest temperatures of 18C to 24C.

Tomorrow will be dry, warm and sunny for the most part, with increasingly toasty temperatures of 20C to 26C, though some thundery showers may feed into southeast areas.

Tuesday will be similarly pleasant, though a little cloudier and possibly cooler in west and northwest counties, with scattered light showers expected.

Wednesday will remain dry and warm, with some isolated light showers and temperatures ranging from the low to mid 20s.

Heading towards the weekend, conditions appear set to remain dry and settled, and Met Éireann says there is ‘the potential for very warm, if not hot, weather as a continental airmass moves in across Ireland’.

Temperatures could climb into the high 20s by day, Met Éireann forecasts, ‘with some sultry nights’ also possible.