I don’t entirely disagree with you, this is a strong nino right now and like you said in an earlier post the active STJ reflects that. However, I would be shocked if we have a monthly average of +2.3C. We are also on borrowed time. We have about a month left of warming before the event peaks according to most guidance and climatology. Regardless, I don’t think it’s super relevant whether we peak at 1.8 or 2.1 ONI. A 1.8 ONI El Niño is far from weak, it’s high end strong/borderline super. The guidance usually has a good grasp on the peak strength by this point, it’s the structure and how rapidly the event weakens that is still uncertain.