Throughout his career, Fred Sanders has contributed substantially to advances in our understanding and capabilities to predict a broad range of atmospheric phenomena. Although most noted for his work in mesoscale and synoptic phenomena, Fred also helped to stimulate new research linking slowly varying features of the planetary circulation with synoptic-scale storm variability. This presentation reviews developments in this area from early work guided by Fred through to our present understanding, and provides an outlook on directions for further improvements in understanding and predicting the links between climate and weather variations