I saw the future cast radar on WBAL, it reminds me of those troll systems from 2012-2013. They'd start out as snow, accumulate, look picturesque, warm air bleeds in, snow turns to rain, rain melts all the snow away.
The Jan 13 warmup got pulled back on GFS. Now it's in the upper 40s for us instead of yesterday's run showing us pushing 60.
This is why we can't go on thermals more than 10 days out, it can change this fast.
But still, look how far into Canada the freeze line is.
Perhaps it could still be the luck thing (solely for this year though, not the whole 7 year period). I mean there is a nonzero chance of all the good stuff missing by sheer happenstance.
So if this year does somehow end up being a repeat of last year how will that factor into your predictions based on when your area gets its first inch of snow. (Like you said that if you get to Dec 10 and there hasn't been an inch recorded at your location the odds of a blockbuster winter begin to drop and that if you reach late Dec without receiving an inch then it'll most likely be a non-winter)
Because this year you got your first accumulation (4 inches) right around the time your correlated blockbuster odds decrease and now you're up to 6 inches after some snow you got about a week later.
In fact when the futility thread got bumped last year you pointed out that the top 5 years listed were also the ones where your area received no snow at all by New Year's.
It's gonna be a Nina following a Nino, so expect a day or two of 70+ in January and an entire week of 70s straddling Presidents Day.
See also 2016-2017.