I saw Will's comment about Dec '70. Funny how that was a similar look for awhile and we got shafted. Only takes a small subtle difference to collapse the jenga puzzle.
I know...but what happened that year? They baked out west and into AK. I think it's a classic climo balance. All the years they had lack luster snow in the 2010s....making up for it now. That's the result of a -PNA on roads. Usually Ninas aren't as snowy in the central Sierra.