There is something about being the “lucky” unexpected one to jack. I remember feeling that, after the long duration Feb 2015 storm. I did not expect that much snow. I had to take a walk to admire what transpired.
I think it’s simple. You got a fluff job and the timing of your clearing probably allowed for primo stacking as the best bands moved in. I don’t think your measuring was flawed.
Honestly Ray, we know how OCD you are with measuring. As long as you were there and believe you did everything as best as you could, then that’s all that matters. Seriously.
And on top of that, Dendrite brought up an excellent point about timing of your brush off with respect to bands. Sure it wouldn’t make a 6” difference, but your coincidental timing made it minimalize compaction.