Realistically the path to a near average to average snow winter this year (above average is unlikely at this point) is for us to be on the right side of the gradient when we transition to a -PNA in late Jan into Feb, and then to get lucky and get a monster blizzard in March. The pattern we have been in since early December has not panned out snow wise, storms are being shunted south while we are left cold and dry in Massachusetts.
It sucks, but I do feel like I learned something from this. Trust your gut and zoom out, there was reason to be skeptical of the 1/11-12 threat. The western ridge axis was never ideal. It was about 300 miles west of where you want for east coast cyclogenesis AND was oriented SW to NE rather than north-south. I focused too much on the former, so I thought we were looking at a March 2017/Feb 2021 repeat with coastal ptype issues but an interior blizzard (would have been a much better outcome than this). I overlooked the orientation of the western ridge axis, leading me to discount the weak sauce OTS Euro runs. I won’t make that mistake again. Yes the Euro buries energy out west too much sometimes, but ignoring the Euro inside 5 days once it locks in on a solution for several cycles isn’t the best idea.