Let’s dissect the 96-97 impression.
Good warning event early in December. Cold first 3 weeks of January with some decent snow including a nice unexpected 6-9 around 1/7, February extremely warm and nearly snowless. March cold and snowy as was April. You can cherry pick all you want but it’s silly. Because of the December snows and the epic April fools blizzard, it was not a ratter. Fact.