Actually, the SE has been very fortunate this winter with the SER weak most of the time til now. It has overall been quite a bit colder than I expected with pretty near normal, the first real winter since 2017-8. But unfortunately that may turn out to be a one winter break.
Looking ahead, until the Maritime Continent (MC) cools off significantly, it appears to me that the SER will likely be back in control. Regarding the 2020s as a whole vs the 1990s in absolute terms, the 2020s have a big advantage of a good bit warmer globe. So, my guess would be warmer. But that's just a wild guess and is subject to change due to who knows what, including a cooler MC due to a successful dry ice drop.
Speaking of the dry ice drop, have you signed up for the free MC dry ice cruise yet? You know, the cruise when numerous wx weenies are supposed to drop megatons of dry ice overboard to cool off the MC so as to weaken the SER?
So is there a real possibly that the waters in the Indian, Maritime Continent and Western pacific waters/oceans will cool down at any point in the 5-10 years.? If I had to guess, that's probably one of the main reasons why the -EPO/+PNA/-AO trio pattern rarely happens anymore and when it does, it doesn't benefit us the same, is that correct?