Get ready: Summer weather is on its way

After a cool April and May more summer-like conditions are on the way for P.E.I., says Environment Canada.

Senior climatologist Dave Phillips told CBC Radio's Island Morning that while the official summer forecast isn't in yet, that will come in June, the season is looking like it will be warmer than usual.

Phillips said it has been a while since the region saw a hot summer.

"We haven't really had, in Atlantic Canada, a real scorching kind of summer since 2012," he said.

Weather may catch up with spring forecast

That turnaround to warmer temperatures is expected almost immediately, with June temperatures expected to be above average.

Environment Canada forecast a warmer than normal spring, and has been criticized during the cool weather in the eastern part of the country in the last two months.

"It depends on how you define spring though," said Phillips.

"The first day of summer doesn't arrive until the 20th of June, so we still have a few weeks to go and we think it will be warmer over the next month."

July and August are looking like they will follow the same pattern, said Phillips, noting that a number of weather services that have already issued their seasonal forecasts are predicting a warm summer.

• Steamy summer nights forecast for P.E.I.

Looking further ahead, Phillips said there are indications a La Nina will form in the late summer, and La Nina is associated with stronger tropical storms in the Atlantic.

Phillips cautioned that while a warmer summer is forecast, that doesn't guarantee you sunshine in the week you take vacation. Seasonal forecasts look at a three-month period, and a warmer summer can still contain stretches of cooler weather.

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