I’ve always suspected the North Atlantic Tripoli sst look was more an effect than a cause. As @Bob Chill often points out a few degree difference in cold waters in the high latitudes isn’t changing the equation that much. The difference between 42 and 50 degree water is not adding as much heat and moisture to the atmosphere as a change from 78 to 86 degree water. Imo the warmer SSTs near Greenland are from the ridging with a -NAO and the colder sst near New Foundland is from the constant parade of storms forced through that region by the NAO blocking. Because the NAO tends to run in multi year cycles that can create the mirage of causality at times. I do think there is a feedback cycle though that can contribute. For instance, the colder sst profile in the 50/50 domain is often caused by storminess there, and enough storms blowing up there can help contribute to ridging into the NAO domain. So there can be a chicken or the egg type play there. For now I’m not going to over think it. It’s just plain good to see lots of lows bombing into the 50/50 space. If that continues it will up our chances significantly.