Thank you so much for this information. I really wish I knew how to read "all the things" well enough to be able to adjust my own forecast. Once a month is killing me, the anticipation >.<. So, I view all the charts, do a lot of googling to figure out how to read them and come to my own conclusions. I witnessed the Ice Storm of '98 in the Northeast as a child and it's one of those events you don't really forget. I know it was a very bad and costly event ( up here and the whole el nino impact globally ), but an exciting one at the same time. How many people hear acres of trees cracking around them because the ice is that heavy and that thick? We had no power for weeks! The woods are still scarred. We don't get a lot of exciting weather up in these parts ( even out snow and t-storms seemed to have gradually moved south ) so I like to keep an eye on things. Cali is getting some rain though and we have had a smidgen of freezing rain and mild temperatures ( in between the frigid ones lol ) so maybe there is a mild effect. I believe this el nino is located in a different spot than in 98 though so the impacts aren't as clear to me. I know nothing about any of this, just a weather enthusiast learning what I can from the web and the noaa/nws sites. Pardon the long comment but I'm pretty much the only person I know interested in this :)