Those look close to average.
Definitely a -PDO/-PMM signature in terms of the spatial distribution, though. Set the global anomaly to zero and it pops out much better.
Just noticed how crazy low the PDO stayed through this past Nino. A far cry from every +ENSO event from 1976-2003, and a more negative PDO than any Nino on record, as far as I can tell.
I'm sure that's partly due to the crazy warming of central Pacific SSTAs in recent years, but it also fits with the observed weather this winter/spring, which didn't really fit major +ENSO climo.
The latest monthly reading for April was -2.09.
Those waters are meaningless in terms of weather/climate forcing anyway. I’m not sure what the obsession is with them.
Some have argued cooler SSTs augment the marine layer during the summer, but the pattern itself during those summers favored stronger marine intrusions, so you’re stuck in the chicken/egg dilemma at best.