As southern Manitoba exits its warmest winter in 18 years, a Senior Climatologist with Environment Canada says we can expect that trend to continue this spring.

David Phillips says their models line up with what the Americans and even Europeans are forecasting, which is above normal temperatures for the months of March, April and May.

"We think El Nino is past its prime but it's not dead in the water," says Phillips. "It still is influencing our weather."

And Phillips says though March might have come in like frozen lamb chops, the story will be much different this week when daytime highs could be ten degrees above normal.

As for precipitation, Phillips says it appears this spring will be wetter than normal for southern Manitoba. And he reminds those living in this part of the country that in a typical year, twenty per cent of snowfall comes after March 1st.

"We just don't know the influence that El Nino has on our spring and summer precipitation," says Phillips. "It tends to have very little effect even on our temperatures in the summertime but certainly we know that the ground is warmer than normal."

Back to the winter of 2015-2016, Phillips says there were only two days where the mercury touched -30 degrees. He notes there have been some winters where southern Manitoba has had 28 of those days. On the other hand, he says precipitation was normal to slightly above normal this winter.