Appreciate the distinction made between "weather" (weekly measurements) and "climate" (seasonal trends).  This is a distinction not used nearly enough!

Also am quite surprised to see the (new?) findings that the El Niño phase decreases temp variability for essentially the Arctic, West and South regions of continental North America, while increasing variability for the landlocked Central-North area, through the Great Lakes to New England.  When discussing the ENSO phases, (El Niño in particular) is this the key takeaway one should consider? 

In popular use, it seems "El Niño" is exclusively referred to in discussion of extreme weather events (hurricanes, torrential rain, ice storms etc.).  Yet the temperature aspect being less variable for most seemingly active regions, doesn't factor in the precipitation aspect, which is where things get more complicated...  

Indeed, with ENSO being a Pacific ocean temp system, simply just the effect of a larger... ...decade-long, global air current phase system, that doesn't get much popular coverage?  Hopefully this isn't an ignorant or obtuse lay question.

Thanks and keep up the great work!