As it is Saturday afternoon and I'm waiting for the washing machine to finish, I watched Joe Bastradi's winter forecast on his website. He is predicting a US winter akin to 1977/78. He suggests that the models are having a difficult time at the moment due to the southern oscillation crashing and an easterly phase of the QBO. For the UK, that winter was very cold and snowy in January and February 1978. Could the same happen in early 2015? Who knows! I'm going to load the tumble dryer.