Looks like we are going to hit phase 8 again. So much for getting stuck in phases 4,5,6 due to the warm pool in the western pacific.
Reasons to be optimistic:
Warm pool causing repeated 4,5,6 seams to have stopped.
Clippers being extinct no longer the case.
SE ridge always linking with the MJO not always occurring.
SE ridge being an unstoppable force is no longer the case.
Next up - fast flow.