the CMC has been lost, though. it's completely changed the trough orientation over the last couple of days. seems like everything is moving towards the ECMWF
tuesday. the GFS shifted significantly towards the ECMWF's handling of the event. it lets vorticity move out ahead, establishing more confluence. then, it trails energy that tries to amplify into the confluence. this is what the ECMWF does
@snowman19 you're probably going to be correct in that this is a super Nino, so kudos for that, but I think you see my point. although it is a super Nino based on ONI, it likely strays from the typical EP super Nino conventions
the upcoming stretch (and in the end, January on the mean, in all likelihood) likely ends up more similar to something like Jan 2003 than those winters