I stumbled on to this site back in 2012 when I was trying to understand that awful pac puke parade of a winter. I remember a moment of enlightment when the patter "changed" but to another sucky pattern. Can't remember what the change was but if I had to guess it probably took a brief break from Pack Puke to a NPAC ridge. At the time I think I just thought there was a "good" pattern and a "bad". But someone on the board pointed out that the pattern definitely changed, but it just transitioned to another sucky pattern. That lead me to realize that there are multiple different types and degrees of patterns, and only a small subset of them are good for our regions.