Thanks for the question. It's difficult to see how this particular "flavor" of La Nina would have caused the December temperature pattern to deviate so much from the typical La Nina temperature pattern. More likely, random weather variability was a bigger culprit. However, it is an interesting question about whether the uniqueness of this sea surface temperature pattern had some sort of impact on the December temperature pattern. At this point, we can say it's possible but it would require an in depth investigation.