It's probably more like 01-02.
Some notes about 97-98, from what I've read from others who remember that year better, it was actually more than 0.5 in DJF but Central Park as usual didn't measure properly. Both LGA and JFK were higher than 0.5 in 1997-98 for DJF.
This winter was probably more than 0.4 too, we had two measurable snowfalls, one in December and one in February, the total was probably closer to 0.6 to 0.8 between those two events.
This winter is more like 2001-02 anyway, a lot warmer than 1997-98 and almost as warm as 2001-02, which is the low benchmark winter of my lifetime.