Yeah I think I had around a foot on Christmas, '95. Christmas '08 and '09 had a good pack, but Christmas '08 started to torch. I think in '09, best pack was down in SE MA because of the big storm earlier.
December would have made the grade a lot better. 2nd best locally and just a few tenths of an inch below '08 here. I'll take that anytime. Not too often you have a foot of snow OTG for Christmas around here like you did in 1970.
I looked up Jan '71 for here. That was a frigid AND dry month. The lack of moisture basically was the reason for not having a blockbuster month. Go figure.
Yes. Unless you have the Bering Sea to Gulf of AK trough to blowtorch the US, you'll get volatility with the propensity for very cold airmasses to enter the central US.