2025-2026 ENSO

[TheClimateChanger]

2 minutes ago, TheClimateChanger said:

I suppose the Baltimore tally which is set to obliterate the record by nearly 30" is probably even more unbreakable. Really bad time to be a Mid-Atlantic snow weenie - that's for sure!

I think the most surprising thing is even with that 30" + storm on the books, they've been straddling the record low 10-year snow. That's why once it drops off, it doesn't just a set a new record low - it absolutely obliterates the prior record.

[GaWx]

On 1/17/2026 at 11:24 AM, GaWx said:

 The largest DJF 2 day drop of the EPO down into a -EPO was 367 (2/9-11/1996) followed by 364 (1/16-18/61). There’s a slight chance these are exceeded 1/14-16/26. We won’t know until Mon (reporting lag). If they aren’t exceeded, it would have a good chance to end up 3rd biggest drop (300+). The 1/14 EPO was +88. So, to get the record drop, the 1/16 would need to go <-279.

 This isn’t a measure of the strongest EPO ridge but rather it’s a measure of the fastest developing one.

Records go back to 1948.

https://downloads.psl.noaa.gov/Public/map/teleconnections/epo.reanalysis.t10trunc.1948-present.txt

The #s are out. We just had the 3rd largest 2 day drop in winter of the EPO into negative territory on record back to 1948:

2026 01 14   88.01
2026 01 15  -92.49
2026 01 16 -254.34

 So, it dropped 342 from 1/14 to 1/16. The only two larger 2 day winter drops are not much higher: the 367 of 2/9-11/1996 and the 364 of 1/16-18/1961.

 As I said, this isn’t a measure of the strongest EPO ridges. Rather, it is a measure of the speed in establishing a new strong EPO ridge.

[Krs4Lfe]

2025-2026 winter now matches 2024-2025 winter for only 5 named winter storms by the weather channel thus far. 
Tied for record low number; highlighting the inactivity across the US aside from Midwest and northeast. 
They’ve been naming since 2012-2013 winter.