On the kicker discussion, which is also raging in the ma forum, what I do not get is what people would expect to happen if it was not there? I see the kicker/ns energy as the very thing that could capture this low (whether one believes if is forming on the wrong boundary or not.). I think the Gfs depiction seems quite clear in that it is forming energy on the boundary which is so very far south next week due to the advancing tpv. Without that NS wave I feel like whatever forms would be a fast moving wave that has little in the way of northward adjustment. This is for open convo, I could be totally wrong, but I have never heard the word kicker in these forums more than the last 24 hours. It seems to be a panacea to try and explain away bad model runs.