The Scandinavia Index was negative during February and remains negative for the weekend. However, the -SCAND reverses to positive phase later next week causing the pattern to change from cold across the North and mild/stormy South so far in February to somewhat milder and drier for the southern half of Europe while cold eases in the North heading into March.

The latest U.S. gas population weight HDD forecast reveals a return to seasonably cold weather and near normal national heating demand next week. However, utilizing ECM, CFS, and 3 AI models, the week 4-5 HDD projections are generally quite warm.

The Australia outlook is prohibitively wet for most of the continent. AI models are utilized although dynamic models are agreeable to possible extreme rainfall centered on East-central to South-central Australia over the next 15 days. No change in the 16-20-day forecast as the wet regime continues.

The 7-day percent of normal rainfall observations identify the expected eastward shift of patchy rainfall across parts of Argentina and Brazil. This weekend and early next week, an upper trough spawns heavy rain in East Brazil as the forecast shifts much wetter.