Spring will be warmer in eastern Canada

Will start slow, but take hold in April and May

While it will start slow, spring will come roaring in next month with warmer temperatures

“The story is a lot of back and forth early and that’s not a surprise.

“There’ll be some cold shots in March with a return to winter periodically.

“It will be a bit of a rollercoaster,” Michael Carter, a meteorologist with The Weather Network said.

“The really good news is April and May.

“We really expect warmer than normal temperatures to take hold across the Maritimes and even into Newfoundland.

“That means more mild days, more sunny days and overall a great forecast for the spring.”

The difference from last spring is once the season arrives it will take a firm hold. Last year, Carter said, April and May remained cool and it wasn’t until June that things started to warm up.

“We expect above normal temperatures to build in earlier this year and stay and the chances of that will grow the further south you go in the region,” Carter said. “The further north, like in Cape Breton or Newfoundland, you may see that cool weather last a bit longer.”

The network is forecasting near normal precipitation throughout the spring, although Carter said there could still be some foul weather during the period.

And because temperatures in the North Atlantic are still warmer than normal, those storms could pack a wallop in terms of rainfall.

“We have fairly warm water temperatures in the Atlantic, which is beneficial in some ways in that it helps coastal areas warm up faster, but with warmer water temperatures the storm systems we do get pick up additional moisture and become bigger precipitation makers,” he said.

The Weather Network released its spring forecast on Wednesday. It’s one of four seasonal outlooks the network releases annually to give people a view of seasonal weather patterns as well as big picture of what’s happening weather-wise across the country.

“The important thing to keep in mind for the spring, and this applies to the fall as well, as you’re transitioning from the cold phase of the year to the warm, or vice versa, and during these transitional seasons you expect a lot of back and forth.

“There really isn’t an opportunity to lock into one weather pattern for a long period of time like you can in the winter or summer,” Carter said.

Looking ahead, while The Weather Network doesn’t release its summer outlook until May,

Carter said the Atlantic region should have a nice summer with warm temperatures and normal precipitation.

“We’re looking at a nice, warm summer, no concern of a cold, dreary summer in the Atlantic provinces,” he said.