A couple things to consider wrt the pattern progression from mid month forward. Guidance has the MJO moving into 'favorable' phases for Jan-Feb. We have these 2 areas of anomalously low h5 heights in close proximity(a trough bridge), which seems unsustainable. Natural progression is for a ridge to develop in between, and that aligns with what is typically expected given the MJO forecast. The GEFS appears to be doing just that at the end of the run. I mentioned this in my post earlier, as the GEFS extended continues that progression to a more favorable h5 look for the last week of Jan. Who knows if this is correct, but it seems at least as plausible as looking at a snapshot from a mean and claiming another torch is coming.