The lack of activity in December was due to the compressed flow the big negative anomaly out west, and the transient neg NAO node later in the month.
I think the imperfect phases later in the season were cyclogenesis defects that are prominent in the absence of high latitude blocking.
There are some signs that this la nina may try to go more central based than last year's, which was heavily eastern biased. That would likely mean a pretty good likelihood of a better December and worse mid season relative to last year. Caveat being that la nina should also be less prominent, which inherently makes ENSO more of a wildcard.
Yea, Cosgrove has been all over a subpar tropical season in terms of activity, but not necessarily level of impact, as of course it only takes one.
He has been on quite a heater over the past few years. I strongly recommend his stuff.
I don't think this will be like last year's la nina in the sense that it will not be as prominent a player across the hemisphere...IOW, we may see more variation in the pattern. It isn't going to be as pervasive a driver.
It's going to be pretty modest next winter...its not a "game over" proposition. We just had a weak el nino a few years ago act more like an el nino...it can go both ways. That said, I wouldn't expect a monster mid atl snow season. Can't necessarily say the same for 2023-2024.
Yea, 2010-2011 was my primary ENSO analog...I agree, there. In hindsight, I feel like a moron for mixing up December and January considering that 2010-2011 with the epic January was so high on my list of ENSO analogs.
That's about the ceiling for this time of year...lay out on the naked and hope to view an ominous cloud that will look not so ominous as it makes it over the ORH hills on approach.