CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) Old Man Winter may be a little nicer to us year, according to predictions from the National Weather Service office in Nashville.

Scott Unger, Meteorologist with the weather service, spoke with ClarksvilleNow about the upcoming winter months.

Unger talked about El Niño and La Niña and their effect on winter weather. He said last year we were in a strong El Niño which gave us more wet and cold conditions. This year the current forecast shows a weak La Niña, which means warmer and drier condition for Middle Tennessee.

“It means not as much winter weather. It also means we could be looking at more in an earlier spring severe weather season. The Super Tuesday outbreak in 2008, that was a weak La Niña, and we ended up with quite a bit of severe weather in the region in February and early March,” Unger said.

In case you are not familiar with them, El Niño and La Niña are both described as complex weather patterns that result from variations in ocean temperatures. To learn more go to oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.

The typical severe weather season falls in March, April, and May and Unger said this could mean potentially more severe weather with this weak La Niña.

This October gave us a different weather picture in the region because of the warmer and drier temperatures and Unger says it was one of the driest months ever. October 2016 was actually the fifth driest on record.

He added that even though there hasn’t been a lot of rain over the past couple of months the situation in Clarksville area is improving. So far this year, Clarksville-Montgomery County is over five inches above average normal rainfall.