so_whats_happening

17-18 was a fun one got a foot and a half snowstorm on my bday in march otherwise was a rather average year. So I would take it and run lol I mean we honestly can only go up from here with 4.5" in 21-22 and 0.9" last year (set a record for least snowiest year recorded in my area), like I said Ill take a foot of snow and run at this point the more the better!

lol yea i mean at this point im perfectly fine with an above normal temp for DJF. Just give a foot snowstorm and call it a winter. Hitting average all accounts would be like hitting the jackpot in my eyes!

So im not sure how it is set up within the model suite (as each one is different) but it most likely is reading off what is currently happening. So say we have quite the month of warming taking place, say .4C increase that month, the model will initialize and keep that same idea going strong. So just like the GFS and Euro over time it tends to go with climo after a certain amount of time meaning if it sees an El Nino like setup it will push it more toward a Nino base state meaning the atmosphere and ocean couple better the longer it goes out. If things were coupled rather well I would no doubt agree Super Nino is in store but we have seen it multiple times where models are just too ambitious with the pattern evolving like bringing consistent -VP further into central Pac, killing off the -PDO, increasing the +IOD, etc hence why you tend to get these high output readings. When it does start to incorporate the ebbs and flows it will ultimately lower the peak of some the higher output models while others will warm from their cooler state. Of course the erroneous model outputs always skew things too so it is very possible that some these rather extreme outputs are putting the dynamical model average a bit higher than say reality might be, just the same as statistical average may be skewed further down for the same reasons.

Im aware of the large gap in Statistical and Dynamic. That is why I mentioned it is best to go middle ground versus one or the other. It follows the same idea of taking multiple different models for a winter storm forecast into consideration. I cannot agree though obs are warmer than dynamical mean (dynamic has been way too aggressive over the last couple of months) but can agree on things being warmer than statistical as this is to be expected. As for the IOD that has just turned positive after months of models being too aggressive with forming the +IOD. The idea of a +IOD is push the -VP further east so the MJO can also respond further east, +IOD alone does not create WWB events but it can help in placing them into better spots when they do initiate, if they do. Im curious why you go strictly with dynamical forecasts? Is there a particular reason behind it or it fits the call better? We also have not had a 3 year Nina event followed by a strong/super Nino. The only years the come close to multiple Nina years followed by a strong/super event have been 1972 and 2009 so we are indeed in uncharted territory. Ill agree MJO (RMM plots) are not exactly the greatest they do tend to have issues and are based on model forecasts but that is why you do not take them to heart for every forecast you try to get the general idea of what the model is trying to predict. If everything we have talked about was exact we wouldn't be having these conversations or a discussion that has been 93 pages on ENSO. lol I will say this I get where you are coming from but without reasons of why this or that will occur it just doesn't help the cause, I personally am all about getting as much info as I can provide out and let the rest follow as it does. I just wish information was presented in the same manner from opposing viewpoints is all, I am just not a big fan of blanket statements or non supported posts is all. I hope to hear snowman chimes in on this too and it is not just you.

The situations that spur these large warmings is indeed MJO driven so im not sure what that comment is about. If you can show me model forecasts from months ago that are indeed falling inline with current observations that would be wonderful. The subsurface warms due to these WWB/MJO movements we saw it back in February/ March, May/ June, and end of August there is nothing in the pipeline to keep driving the subsurface warming from the last WWB/MJO progression that happened so where is this continued rapid warming coming from? I do question though what happens if we have another dive in heat content after this last wave? We definitely see the stall situation we had in second half of June and July. We do not seem to be having the typical WWB region around 90E setting up this go around which helps feed the progression of an MJO wave/ WWB event with a KW in the subsurface. So again I question where is the extended warming coming from? I personally will not delve into the whole twitter thing as that app is just a fools app, always has been. I personally like to take multiple perspectives rather than just find one thought that suits my own thoughts I mean we are already into September and by next week mid September we are nearing month, maybe month and a half until peak typically hits with again not a whole lot in the pipeline showing up. Until another MJO push/WWB event happens which again the end of the month event that was originally talked about doesn't look to happen anymore we flatline and even cool. Edited to add 30 day total U winds with forecast and the last 90 days. I will also add these U wind forecasts are not perfect they tend to over exaggerate not only trade wind anom but the weakening of the trades (or reversal moments). So it best to take a more middle of the ground approach but but nothing again showing up where is the warming to come from?

What data shows this? There is no MJO wave happening or forecasted for the next two weeks (at the very least, end of month is looking less and less impressive as we move in time) so where exactly is this warming from? We are seeing models struggle with what MJO will do next let alone get out of null. What makes this go back to 7/8/1 to allow for more Nino like processes to occur?

Possibly but definitely feel November is now a better fit overall, for now. Btw here are those two monthlies from TAO and the most recent (4th should update later but not much should have changed) I do wish this showed further west and east though would like to see how the subsurface is reacting in those areas as well.

Yea it looks as though 1+2 has peaked and we may be near peak of 3 the next few weeks (end of month should really let us know) should indicate whether or not this is true. When i get a chance ill post but i have july to august monthlies for tao subsurface and you can see quite the change and septembers will be no different. Wish i had may and june but didnt even think about saving them.

Idalia barely made a scratch unfortunately but nice to see some churning up out there. It will be fun to see how quickly that recovers coming up here. I will say I do not like the prospects of troughing being centered across the upper midwest/lakes region. Too far west to keep us from potential issues and with ridging into eastern Canada/ NW Atlantic definitely need to watch this system.

So this shows most of 3/ 3.4/ 4 eastern edge of 3 is cut off a bit on the right side as it is from 90W-150W, 3.4 is from 120W-170W, and 4 is from 150W-160E If we had a month by month play from May to now Im sure we would see a slow progression westward of the anomalies. It unfortunately cuts off 1+2 which I get cause it changes a lot but would be nice to see and also the most western portion of the Pacific but luckily CPC sort of broad brushes those regions for us. Trades kick in and tend to cap off waters and much of the warming but what I believe they also do is help with pushing the warmest portion further west with time. This progression is definitely interesting to watch.

Quite the change in the almost 10 day period.

That would be pretty crazy if that happened. We will just have to watch how this goes in September a lot is up in the air still (unfortunately) how this all shakes out.

Yea models are having a hard time resolving MJO and amplitude. They seem to want this to move a little quicker than it actually is so we may be in transition time for seasons and the northern hemisphere to start kicking into gear? I have not been impressed at all with any BOMM MJO forecast hard pass on any of those outputs. JMA/ GFS/ Euro have been doing fairly well the GFS definitely struggles with amplitude though. Gotta wait until we actually see activity form to really know where the movement goes. As long as we stay in null all basins are essentially open for activity tropical wise. Let us see if we get something of low amplitude peak in 3 coming up here or just stay in null as we circle around trying to find an opening.

Fair point but yea the bar is pretty low down this way I mean honestly if it were to happen again with no snow whatever just give me warm temps not the 36 and rain lol too dreary for me. Personally myself would be happy with a nice foot snowstorm and call it a season. Also agree on the RMM plots they tend to miss out on what exactly the results could be was quite an uptick the last go about with a low amplitude wave shown on the plots. It very well could skip 4-5, models definitely showing that possibility so a push to low amplitude 3 and slide over to 6-7 is possible toward mid to late month period. I wonder if this would drag the last of the warmth from a solid wave what happens next is of course the big question. That look would seemingly be a fairly healthy spike and could serve as really strong wave. Of course always be taking caution for long range outlooks as this has been shown several times before and retreats west in time and weakens. Who knows maybe this time is different with the atmosphere a little more inline to Nino. Should be fun to watch this evolution definitely a different one from at least a record stand point.

Like the way you presented the thought. Was originally going with high end moderate 1.3-1.4 by October (spring thoughts) but barring some rather drastic shift that is realistically out of the possibilities. Moved to 1.7 with October peak but now going toward a November peak with how slow things seem to be progressing. If we are using ERSST that is, seems like CDAS is about .2C cooler while OISST is about .1C warmer than ERSST. October: 1.6 November 1.9 December: 1.7 January: 1.6 There is the possibility of November going to 2 which would bump up the trimonthly to 1.8 averaged around OND.

Can definitely put this to the test coming up. Euro mid to long range is trying to throw a pretty nice +PNA. Of course leaves us in the East potentially vulnerable but that is another story. Latest PDO values should be coming out soon but with the warm pool still ever present around Japan I doubt we see much warming of the values take hold. At the very least it is nice to see storms not going down the west coast that is a good sign!

Of course what I find interesting is the cooling that has taken place in both surface and subsurface in the WPAC for the last 3 weeks. That last bout of warming did indeed create quite the punch while cooling things further west. May have one more solid punch before we start the slow reversal as the waters will start to have cooled too much to allow further subsurface warming no more warm pool out west means no more fueling the El Nino. May end up being a November peak instead of October as originally thought given the way the waves have been setting up. If we do in fact have this MJO impulse come EOM to early October it would lead to warming through much of the 1st and 2nd weeks of October then we will probably have a much better gauge for what subsurface should look like and if it does actually cool down enough we have to see how we end this one most were undercut with cold anomalies and left a warm pool further west while surface cooled dramatically in the EPAC. I honestly forget what page I had it written down but we seem to have smaller impacts in between some of the bigger waves that have come through. We seem to still be riding the 3 month big wave situation end of February to early March, end of May to early June, and now middle to end of August. This last one picked up a little quicker as we are very much out of the La Nina hangover and seemed to have sped things up a bit. Given this look I would say the next large wave impact would be actually closer to the end of October and honestly it is pure speculation at this point but so far the pattern hasn't changed all that much. Maybe a little impulse in between the bigger one toward the end of October? We seemed to have those with the past bigger warmings. Thinking of those smaller ones to help maintain the Nino temp levels and not allow too much cooling in between. Sorry for the long post.

Looks like CPC site finally updated after 2-3 weeks without an update. Here is the subsurface animation

I am curious at when it peaks may be a split difference of october to december. Could see november as that is not too unusual. More so if we are to attain these higher number i would much rather like to see some continual activity in many aspects. Lets see how this month evolves definitely could lead us in the path of figuring things out again barring no major changes to overall progression. Im personally still leaning october maxima but we shall see how it goes. Could see an extended colling for another larger bump end of november /december to give it that bump. For late season.

As i mentioned earlier it looks to come in the latter part of the month which will start to give impacts as we close out the month. So the best bet for it is to maintain everything status quo until then. Again assuming the wave holds properly and moves into the pacific. Forecasts were too quick in bringing this into phase 3/4 as has been the case for most of the summer so far. Remember MJO progresses 30-45 days. It isnt perfect as sometimes it is quicker and sometimes it lags but we are still dealing with a really warm equatorial ocean so it is having a hard time creating a solid wave rather it just is spikes that seem to happen.

maybe it got lost in translation but can you post this paper?

More so also posting his/her own opinions and graphics to back it up would be great. I get trying to have confirmation from the twitter crowd but it really seems like he/she wants those individuals to speak for their thoughts rather then presenting their own ideas. That is not scientific in anyway and definitely lose respect from scientists in that manner, whether right or wrong. Honestly im not sure why everyone cares to be so right over something like this. Would much rather just chat about it and discuss how the evolution is rather funky. Throw around ideas to get a better understanding and leave it at that. Really weird to see people treating this like a job on what is supposed to be a chat forum. Can we not just take a breather from work stuff and enjoy a place where we all like to watch and talk weather? Anyway rant over im sure nothing will change in any aspect so...

Yea we blipped to cat 4 so everyone can say it went cat 4 instead of high end 3. Probably has about 2 hours till landfall probably will just maintain status quo at this point.

This is due to the excessively warm waters around the area of Japan and extending east. These have yet to cool otherwise we would be in a much closer neutral PDO look. As long as we don't keep re enforcing the ridge pattern out there it should slowly decline in time.

Looks like troughing is starting to have an effect. Gotta love a good ocean storm! Had beautiful structure yesterday.