SUDBURY -- Expect things to be hotter and drier than usual, should the latest forecast from Natural Resources Canada turn out to be true.

Experts are predicting this will be a dry summer for northern Ontario, it will be particularly dry near the Muskoka region.

"It'll be kind of a slow start, the temperatures right now are quite cold," said Yan Boulanger, a research scientist with the government agency.

"Once we head into June, July and August, the conditions will be much more conducive for fire in northeastern Ontario, actually that's the same kind of thing that will occur in most of Canada."

According to Boulanger, the Prairie Provinces will be hit with some of the driest conditions over the course of those three months.

"It doesn't mean that there will be necessarily more fires, it just means that the conditions themselves, when I saw fire prone conditions they are above normal," he explained.

And so far it appears to be a busy season. Fire crews with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry have already tackled 23 fires and it's only week five of the province's fire season.

"We do look at the weather very closely as it relates to forest fires, so this season what we generally do is look ahead at about five days for response capabilities to give us an idea on where we'll be," said Shayne McCool, Ontario Fire information officer.

Ontario has been under a restricted fire ban for some time now during the COVID-19 pandemic to help reduce the number of human caused fires the province would be responding to.

It has also allowed them to keep their crews safe and ready for deployment.

"I think it's important anytime when you're dealing with fires in particular that members of the public be diligent with those fires, obviously right now we're under a restricted fire zone so open air burning is prohibited, so it's important for residents to abide by those instructions and to help keep our response capabilities strong," said McCool.

Natural Resources Canada has put together an interactive tool to help show Canadians the forecast for their region.

You can find it here.