I enjoyed reading your commentary. Since I live in NW Montana, and we have seen an abundance of precipitation and cold so far this winter, I concur that the typical atmospheric response we often see here in the NW US during an El Nino has not occurred at all. In fact nearby Washington state has received record rainfall and my area just received over 2 feet of snow in a major snowstorm earlier this week and we are close to annual seasonal snowfall totals and it's only January. Normally we experience mild and drier than normal conditions for El Ninos. Clearly other factors are effecting our weather patterns this year. I note that other than a brief period of heavy rains in California in December, much of the SW quarter of the US has been both above average in temps and below average in precipitation--not boding well for their drought conditions, and certainly not conditions one could expect from an El Nino. Thus I like your term "El Limbo".