College Park, Md. (WOWO): Official projections suggest this winter could be milder than last year.

In the first official outlook of coming weather patterns, Mike Halpert of the NOAA's National Climate Prediction Center says the extreme cold and snow that hit the Midwest last year isn't likely to repeat itself.

Early studies suggest it will be much drier, meaning less chance for extreme, long-lasting systems that linger over the Great Lakes.

“Things are much different. It's a year later. The tropical Pacific is much different. The north Pacific is different. I think that's an unlikely solution.” Halpert adds, “But, having said that, I would expect, you live in the northern part of the United States, I would expect there to be some colder weather this winter.”

Forecasters aren't ruling out smaller instances of extreme weather. But, they say it's still a toss up to predict how cold it will be. Just to the north stretching from Michigan to Minnesota there is a good chance for normal to above average temperatures, but that is also still unclear. 

Last winter in our region, a low-pressure Canadian storm system dropped around 70 inches of total snow according to the National Weather service and pushed temperatures anywhere from 8 to 10 degrees below average.

The persistent storm front left the region blanketed in snow and bitter cold for two to three months. During that time, about 20 nights dropped below zero, including twice where it 16 below.