40/70 Benchmark

I definitely agree with you and raindance on this....the largest issue I see with people, including myself, is that our stances tend to be too polarized. This causes us to view issues as too "black and white", when the reality is much more nuanced and more of a compromise. I definitely see some summer-season commonality with stronger el nino events, such as 1972, 1982, 2009 and 2015, but I think its also important to consider the -vp pattern and MEI/RONI because those metrics also offer insight into the overall character of the developing el nino event. There are some stark differences between those 4 seasons. Dismissing how the forcing is manifesting itself is every bit as silly and equally detrimental to seasonal forecasting efforts as failing to fully appreciate the existence of an appreciable nino.

That is a cold look with that monster ridge over AK....I wouldn't be suprised to see it verify colder if that worked out.

Bring it.....no relevance, but I will never forget the fall of 1995 playing out like that...constant barrage of nor' easters that began early on.

Juicy, Lucy plenty of dingleberries to go around

All sarcasm aside, if this pattern doesn't relent its going to be an interesting winter season.

Bingo. I think what gets lost in the shuffle is that the weather is the product of gradients resulting from the interaction of competing forces....people are focusing too much on one force when the ambient environment is just as integral a part of the equation. Its not low pressure that creates the storm, but rather the imbalance of pressure...same thing with respect to forcing. It is the result of the SST gradient, not the absolute value within the ENSO region, as this is only part of the equation.

I'm done with my first draft of seasonal composites.....will just check against actual weather over the next 6 weeks or so before publishing. I think some around here get the idea that I am going wall-to-wall snow and cold and that simply is not the case.

I still don't think the ONI ever hits 2.0, but I'm not that concerned about it because I'm convinced that it doesn't really matter.

This is what I am saying. My comment about more N stream involvement this winter has nothing to do with ACE...two discrete comments. All meant was a weaker el nino could maintain more N stream involvement.

Going through some of my methodologies now and there is definitely some value in the 1982-1983 analog, but its clear that el nino will functionally be significantly weaker.

I think what he means is that ACE is irrelevant within the context of a winter forecast for an el nino season.

What this may mean is more periods in which the N stream steals the show.

I am in that sliver in which ENSO doesn't really matter, but I would still take a weak to moderate El nino, all things equal.

As much as I love me some 2004-2005, I believe raindance mentioned that ACE only matters during la Nina.

3.21" final

2.98" as of midnight...R-

This what I have been asserting all fall.

.09" rainfall.

@snowman19you keep quoting this ghost that supposedly said to "ignore the MEI" last year..who said that? The MEI is part of the reason why every seasonal forecast on the face of the planet called for -PDO/PNA last season, despite a modest peak ONI of -1.0, which was identical to 1995-1996. Yet there was general consensus that normal snowfall in the east would be a tall task. I'll pull up that portion of my outlook, if you would like...

The only aspect that is definitely true is the dice are loaded towards warmer outcomes. The rest is speculation and heresey at this time.

I'll take that and run...its not frigid by any stretch, but its warm over AK and the arctic. Slightly above normal here works assuming above average precip.

I understand this, but it doesn't change my opinion that anomalies over overly attributed to CC.

Well, I disagree. Its easy to blame every drought and heatwave on GW. We're just going to have to agree to disagree. Anomalies have and always exist independent of CC.

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. I'm sure there is simply less cold available in the absolute sense, but the pattern last year sucked and we also had some bad breaks.