It's goofy here too in the "Desert Southwest" up at 7,000 ft elevation (in the world's largest contiguous Ponderosa pine forest).
Last year's winter, Flagstaff saw record snowfall (slightly over 12 ft fell on my Compound 1
And yet the weather forecasters had given no long ranges beforehand that suggested such would be the case. It simply went into the history books, unpredicted so far as I know.
This year, a notably strong "El Nino" was purportedly going to see above average snow fall here - yet I'm looking out the window at bare ground. WTF???!???
I saw were predictions were for a warmer/dryer winter for the upper Midwest.
But for this location, all I've seen is dryness and above aerage temps for the time of year.
What this might or might no presage for personal food production in the garden in the coming year, God only knows...