What we can expect from spring after one of the country's warmest winters

Spring officially rolls in Tuesday night and Canadians are eagerly waiting to see what weather the season will bring.

Canada just experienced its warmest winter, on average, in 77 years, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips.

"This was really the winter that didn't happen," Phillips told CP24.

"Every month was warmer than normal."

The mild winter is due to the El Nino climate pattern that Phillips said is tapering off, but will likely linger into the spring and summer, and make for a smooth transition between seasons.

In Regina, beloved ice cream shop Milky Way welcomed an early start to spring when it opened its windows on Tuesday, just hours before the spring equinox.

"We feel like we represent the first sign of spring," said owner Anne Boldt, whose annual goal is to open before Easter, but it all depends on the weather.

Typically, the sweet treat on opening day is a reward for surviving a harsh, gruelling winter, but that was not the case this year.

"I always say, ‘Enjoy the weather, but be concerned by the climate,'" Phillips said.

"We know that climate change does cause extreme weather to become more extreme."

The implications of a dry winter will likely continue as provinces brace for drought and the potential threat of another extreme wildfire season.

"We are taking action earlier than ever and preparations for this year's wildfire and drought seasons are already well underway," said Bowinn Ma, B.C.’s minister of emergency management and climate readiness, during a press conference on Monday.

The B.C. government is investing $80 million to address farmers’ worries from last year’s drought and help the industry tackle another potentially dry season ahead.

Snow levels remain low and B.C. Premier David Eby said this summer’s drought might be worse than last year.

Environment Canada models show warmer-than-normal conditions for both the spring and summer, Phillips said. However, there are a few colder days on the horizon.

Phillips said snow is common in a "normal spring," but that does not necessarily mean that will be the case this year.

B.C.’s snow pack, which is crucial to releasing moisture into the soil during the spring melt, is at a historical low, according to Doug Donaldson, a POLIS senior wildfire policy analyst at the University of Victoria.

"The drought situation and the conditions that we're seeing have now become persistent, ongoing and predictable," he said.

"If conditions don't improve, we're in a situation where wildfire risk will be high."

B.C. typically experiences its rainy season in May and June, but Donaldson said there are concerns that even heavy rains won’t be able to restore enough moisture to the soil.

As a result of climate change and the El Nino, Donaldson said the province is seeing an earlier start and later end to its wildfire season.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 96 active wildfires in B.C. Ninety of them, known as holdover fires, burned through the winter.

"We see holdover fires as a consequence of fires that burned deep into the duff and organic matter, and are next to impossible to put out," Donaldson said.