All in all things have gone fairly close to expectation for the final 1/3rd of January. The active pattern continued, which finally brought more widespread snow opportunities to much of the sub-forum. We have also seen temperatures trend colder in stages in the wake of the storm system mid last week.
Regarding the current period of the final weekend in January, the shared week of the end of January/beginning of February, and the first weekend of February...The pattern of a relaxing -EPO/-PNA/less -NAO attempts has unfolded, and some aspects have evolved a bit faster than previously depicted when the above quoted post was written nearly two weeks ago. As mention at the time, it would be a gamblers pattern. We obviously had the event this past weekend that some cashed in on quite well and there have been a few minor events to start this week in parts of the Ohio Valley...So the gamble was not a total loss for all, but many left down some some cash.
For this first 1/3rd of February as a whole, we will continue evolution to another pattern. We will once again revert back to a less consistent wintery pattern (And less active for a bit in general), one that features the best chance of snow and cold being across MN/WI/MI, and needing to more rely on threading the needle elsewhere. We will see a combination of a NAO hovering around neutral, a +EPO, the PNA around or just south of neutral, the lower atmospheric PV lobe center shifting north and an MJO expected to transition from phase 3 to 4.
As we head into the first portion of the middle 1/3rd of February there are some strong signals of wanting to head towards a -EPO/-PNA/big SE ridge pattern. This not only has solid ENS support at this long range, but is also heavily supported by the projected MJO movement as well. However, the one wild card will continue to be the SPV, which continues to be taking hits...and could have hand in altering things in a different way. Still awhile off from this period, so we'll see how it trends with time.