The graphics are nice but including anomalies for all El Niño episodes since 1951 obscures the fact that there is a large difference between the atmospheric patterns associated with the strongest events, and those for the weaker events. The circulation over the eastern subtropical Pacific this November through January 2016 has been much weaker than that observed for the other 5 strongest events (defined on the basis of persistent ONI anomalies exceeding threshold values). That is probably due to SST north of Hawaii still being warmer than that observed in other strong El Nino events, thus producing a weaker subtropical branch of the westerlies there.