Thanks, man.
It became clear to me during my IOD research back in August.
Using the Indian Ocean as a Predictor of ENSO | Eastern Mass Weather
Its probably not a big deal, but it maybe related to why this event became a bit more east-based, as well. The fact that it was so stagnant really helped to facilitate the development of the negative subsurface anomalies in the western end of ENSO. This was bordering on Modoki until August...I began get a bit more optimistic for winter later in the summer and into the fall due to this...pending results of my sensible analog recalibration.