Here's an example of the juiced up off hour runs on the EC for the last 4 cycles. The on-hour 12Z/00Z cycles look nearly identical and the 18Z/6Z counterparts look similar as well. Don't ask me why this is happening, it's also just a snapshot of one days worth of runs, so at the same time doesn't "prove" the 6Z/18Z are more or less juiced than the on-hour runs. It's just something I've noticed as well as many users on here. Anecdotal more than anything, but it is interesting to see it visualized. A few years ago we didn't even have the 6Z/18Z ECMWF to look at and maybe that would have been for the better?