I watch the snow pack reports and weather in general in the west, as it effects my spring trips in some form or fashion. I plan my trips into the Grand Canyon around what seasonal sources may be running from the collection of melt water from the rim, and hope when I go to fish the rivers in New Mexico they aren't blown from snow melt. As I lived in the now extremely drought ridden Sierra, I also monitor the situation there. So far, the predictions of a strong El Nino year are coming to pass with normal to above snowfall in the mountains and rains in the lower elevations of the Southwest. The ocean temps in the Pacific have been historically high this year creating absolutely bizarre conditions for giant sea creatures to congregate off the coast of Monterey. The cold Humboldt current that pushes down the coast from Alaska got diverted west by the swell of warm water from the south. Marine biologists from around the world congregated there in August to see the spectacle. What it should mean for us, if I read the NOAA reports right, is a somewhat warmer winter with perhaps normal to slightly above snow. We shouldn't experience the ridiculous polar vortex crap we had the last few winters as the Jet Stream should be running interference as it normally does, with the added bonus it'll be even a bit farther north. Ontario shouldn't freeze over again. Ice fishing may be marginal. but it may provide some restoration to all the fisheries the past few winters did damage to.