(CBS DETROIT) – Last winter was mild, with below-average snowfall and above-average temperatures. This year, however, could be a little different with La Niña.

While El Niño is the warm phase, La Niña is the cool phase of the tropical Pacific Ocean temperature climate, the El Niño Southern Oscillation or ENSO.

Normally, the trade winds push the warm surface water towards Asia, from east to west. But in some years, those trade winds are stronger, causing cool water in the eastern Pacific Ocean to rise to the surface. This causes the jet stream to flow further north, bringing wetter weather to Michigan without significantly affecting temperatures.

Trent Frey, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Detroit, says the La Niña forecast has changed.

“I think it was originally forecast that we would have a moderate or maybe even strong La Niña this year, while the latest forecast calls for a weak La Niña at this point. And those are just determined by how cold, how much colder than normal – that part of the Pacific Ocean near the equator is so the colder it is, the stronger the La Niña,” he said.

Last year was one of the warmest winters on record, thanks to the strong El Niño. But what can we expect this year?

“So this year we expect a wetter year,” Frey said. “That will be the most likely scenario. It’s hard to say if much of that will fall as snow or if it could fall as rain or, you know, a wintry mix, some ice and freezing rain. That kind of thing. Instead, because we’re on the drier, less snowy side, we’re more likely to be on the wetter, potentially more snowy side.”