I think you read a bit too much into that....all I meant was a neutral NAO beats the hell out of the exotic positives that we have grown accustomed to. I never said its the entire story HAHA. I lived through 2009-2010 here in SNE, so trust that I know a negative NAO is not a panacea. lol
You are also correct that there is more to the NAO domain than the assigned numerical index value.
People are getting wayyyyy ahead of themselves with this.
Lets gain a measure of confidence for a serviceable pattern here in NE, before hoisting the warnings for NC.
Yea, the NAO is only helpful if you have cold air already in place...in this case, rather run this risk of a hugger, than have a good track with no cold.
I only used it as a secondary analog because of the ONI and MEI criteria that I employed, but that season is one of the better sensible weather analogs for how I see this winter playing out. Even the blocking just east of Greenland was a very prevalent feature in my composite.
I don't think that you will be too far off this season. I think I went with + .25 to .55 range...basically neutral-positive.
I think most would take a near neutral NAO and run, this year. lol