I'm not sure what you're talking about. That's a pretty good signal for -EPO at hour 240 on the EPS and around ~216-240 on the GEFS. That ridging in the NE Pacific is what we could call a -EPO. If there was a trough there it would be a +EPO. Now for real cold you do need that ridge to build northward more for cross-polar flow, but with it being 240 hours out that's completely on the table. The main issue is that it is 240 hours out and can completely change by then.