RE: Modoki El Nino?
That's a good question. Because CPC's ENSO forecasts are based on the Nino 3.4 SST target, they do not distinguish between Eastern Pacific or Modoki El Nino. There are several reasons why we do not distinguish between the two at this point: (1) there is no universally accepted way of distinguishing Modoki from Eastern Pacific El Nino, (2) Modoki El Nino is essentially equivalent to weak-to-moderate El Nino (you can read more about this here: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/enso-flavor-month), and it's a bit too early to speculate on El Nino strength, (3) the eastern Pacific SST anomaly distributions are not bimodal between the eastern and central Pacific but instead vary rather continuously across longitudes.
In addition, I would add that it's not clear how skillful the dynamical models are in distinguishing between the various ENSO flavors, and there are questions about the robustness of the impact differences over North America.
With that said, I think it's worthwhile to examine the SST patterns that the dynamical models are predicting at this site: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/NMME/seasanom.shtml. It looks like some models have more of a Modoki feel, but there are substantial variations in pattern and amplitude at this point. If the models begin to converge on strength and El Nino pattern, then we will see the influence in other variables like North American temperature and precipitation. However, we have just reached the first step of determining that El Nino conditions appear favorable for development. It's still too early to hone in on the details!