Climatologist Dave Phillips says Environment Canada is forecasting a summer of contrasting weather across the country, with dry conditions predicted in the prairies and cooler conditions expected in Ontario and Quebec.

Summer may be vastly different across Canada this year, but Environment Canada says there will still be seasonal days in each province.

The Environment Canada senior climatologist told CTV News Channel that the summer will be one of ups and downs.

"One day looks pretty good, summery-like and then you're back into day later that's kind of miserable," Phillips said, echoing The Weather Network's long-range predictions for western Canada and the Maritimes.

Phillips also agrees that Alberta and British Columbia will see warm and dry conditions that will increase the risk of wildfires, but adds those conditions will extend across the Prairies and into the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

"There's nervousness for farmers on the Prairies [with] dryer than normal [conditions] and certainly for the forests of the northwest鈥� I think they're going to have some challenges this particular summer," said Phillips.

Environment Canada is predicting heat in Atlantic Canada where residents can expect a warmer than normal summer. He said weather in Ontario and Quebec "could go either way," yet temperatures aren't expected to reach the fatal heat wave levels seen in the region last year.

"It could be cooler, it could be normal, it could be above normal -- we're not ready quite yet to make that call," said Phillips. "Overall, we think it will be certainly a cooler summer than what we had last year, particularly in the east."

A "disappointing spring" brought severe flooding to parts of Ontario and Quebec and Phillips said that rain will continue sporadically in the summer months.

He also said that recent storms and tornadoes in the United States will impact Ontario and Quebec's summer weather.

"All the weather systems seem to be coming through Ontario and western Quebec," said Phillips. "[These provinces] are on that dividing zone between the cold and the warm air that usually produces a lot of cloud cover and a lot of disappointing weather -- not the beer drinking weather that we had last year."

Environment Canada's official forecast for summer will be released June 1.