La Niña conditions are still favored to develop over the coming months, but the event should remain weaker and shorter in duration than other historical La Niña winters, according to a new update released Thursday by NOAA.

This means there should be less impact on global weather patterns, including in the United States.

La Niña occurs when ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific reach a cooler-than-average threshold, which can impact weather patterns around the world. However, if the developing La Niña is on the weaker side, there will be fewer impacts.

(MORE: What is La Niña? A deeper dive).

Neutral conditions remain in effect, but a La Niña watch is still in effect. Waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean near the equator have remained near average temperatures this month. This means that neither El Niño, nor its counterpart La Niña, will last.

Sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are currently a mix of cooler and warmer waters, as shown in the map below, indicating that neutral conditions remain.

A La Niña watch remains in effect, NOAA said. That’s because waters in this region are still expected to cool and persist long enough to meet the threshold for a La Niña event.

NOAA said in its November update: “The team still favors the onset of La Niña, but it will likely remain weak and have a shorter duration than other historical episodes. A weak La Niña would be less likely to result in conventional winter impacts.” “

Assuming La Niña develops, it is expected to last from January to March next year.

La Niña can affect both winter temperatures and precipitation patterns. Below are the typical winter temperature and precipitation patterns that La Niña has produced in the past.

Note that given the forecast for a weak event this winter, these patterns may be less pronounced than normal, as previously noted by NOAA. In addition, other factors in the atmosphere can offset the influence of La Niña during periods in the winter.

Temperatures: The northern and central US tends to be colder than average during La Niña winters. In the South, temperatures are often above average, but that does not mean that there will not be periods of colder weather.

In this case, winter is defined as the three-month period from December to February.

Precipitation: La Niña usually brings wetter-than-average conditions to the Pacific Northwest and Ohio Valley during the winter, while the southern tier of the country tends to become drier.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. Over the past two decades, she has covered some of the world’s biggest weather and climate stories.