Where Does Winter Go From Here?

I’ve been using the winters of 97-98 and 98-99 as analogs to compare to as one piece to this puzzle. My winter outlook is spot on so far and I’m happy with how it’s going. So where do we go from here?  If you look at January-March 1998, you see only a few transient cold shots, otherwise conditions were mild to warm the entire period with some 70s in February and some 80s in March!  El Nino certainly keeps things toasty in the eastern U.S.  Could we see the same type of warmth carry us through early 2016?  Looking at November-February 1998-1999 you see more of the same.  Lots of highs in the 60s with quite a few highs in the 70s throughout the period.  Sure, there are brief cold snaps…but overall the winters were VERY mild during those El Nino years.  Just something to think about as we head toward January.  There is a lot of chatter in the meteorological community about a turn to cold and snowy weather in the coming months.  I personally am not sold on that idea just yet.  I am beginning to think more strongly that the last 3-5 years have been our cold phase and now we are going to move toward a warm phase.