@Bob Chill
Regarding 2014-2015, using the euro here but the idea looks really close on all 3 ensembles right now.
Day 15
This continues to look even more like those years everyday.
2014:2015 Composite
Right now if we want to get overly specific I like the longwave configuration a little more than 2015 and maybe SLIGHTLY A SMIDGE less than 2014, not a bad spot to fall lol.
The key to this being different from the -PDO hell we've been in recently is that trough in the central pacific which has been consistent across guidance and in reality. Yes the north pacific has a ridge into the WPO which isn't what we want if we are looking at every pattern driver in a vacuum, but it doesn't work that way. There are a ton of drivers and they are not all going to be perfect at the same time.
That trough there in central pacific underneath the ridge prevents a downstream trough from digging into the SW US. It allows the cold to be directed into the east instead of digging into the west. It's a radically different reaction to a ridge in the WPO.
This was the issue with recent years...
There was a full latitude ridge at that longitude which caused a full longitude trough into the western US which in turn pumped the SER. Even once the current pattern retrogrades into a classic TNH look this is radically different from when we had a central pacific ridge in recent years. Not all TNH patterns are the same and that piece in the central pacific is a big key to our chances.