It's because it isn't adjusted for average seasonal snowfall. The darkest colors are all the snowiest places (Cascades, BC and AK Coastal Mountains.) This isn't because these spots have seen a disproportionate change in snowfall, but just because even a 5 inch change per decade for an area that sees 400 inches per year is hardly significant.

The problem is they began it right at the end of what was a very snowy period here.

Starting to get pretty blustery out here.

18z GFS keeping the Monday clipper strength pretty intact but just shifts it north slightly. Not really worried about placement at this point, but encouraged to see it keep the system. Euro and it's AI brother are the only deterministic models that still aren't showing this. Hopefully that changes with the 00z runs tonight.

The thing is winter temps have actually dropped since the turn of the century. Many of us remember the horrific run of winters from Jan 1999 though 2005-06.