Agreed. It does seem that when there is a northern stream dominant event, the newer GFS does seem to latch onto things quicker than the CMC and Euro. I am wondering if it is getting better assimilation of data from North America?
During the 2016 blizzard, the GFS handled the northern stream energy better than the Euro, Ukmet, and Canadian in the D5 - D7 range. We might be seeing that again.