Southern Manitobans have a good reason to be happy this spring as the flood outlook was announced Friday.

"We have had a very mild winter as far as precipitation goes," said Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler. "I'm happy to announce that there is reason for cautious optimism about the spring flood season."

Drier soil conditions and below average winter precipitation has led to the Province issuing a low risk of major flooding in southern Manitoba. This applies to the Interlake region as well as those in the Red, Assiniboine, Souris, and Qu'Appelle river basins.

Schuler did mention one red flag in their forecasting, and the lack of snow is what has caused it.

"We have very thick ice," Schuler explained. "Crews are reporting the ice is about one metre thick."

That makes the ice on the Red and Assiniboine River up to 25 centimetres thicker than normal. Schuler says this is because of the lack of snow, which left the ice uninsulated and allowed a deeper freeze. The thick ice could cause potential flash flooding.

Ice jam mitigation is already underway on the northern Red River.

Schuler says that none of our flood infrastructures need to be used at the moment, as long as precipitation remains average or below average throughout the rest of the winter season.