I guess what irritates me most about the SSW is that there is far too much hype around it considering the level of uncertainty. Everybody wants to cyber-spank it to pretty pictures of the temperature at 63,347 feet up, but no one wants to be accountable when nothing happens at the surface. I'm sorry, but if you forecast a severe NE winter (this is a general statement, not directed at anyone) and a SSW occurs that has relatively little impact at the surface, then your forecast is still a failure. Anyone who can't handle that probably shouldn't engage in seasonal forecasting.