Very true. One of the other reasons for this is the style of storm system this is. This isn't a well formed low tracking across the Deep South then going up the coast. It is one 850mb low over the OH/TN Valley that weakens and gives way to development along the coastal front, while intense synoptic scale forcing takes shape and leads to the deepening on the coast. Where these fronts lineup at this range is anyone's guess. I had another tweet in that thread that goes into the 10-90th climatological percentiles at 850mb, that are exceptionally wide ranging across the region. It highlights how far we have to go before we really see truly what kind of cold air there is to work with.
All that said, my main point was most major winter storms in these parts will have an 850mb low in that vicinity. However, not all 850-750-500-300mb evolutions are the same and neither are the air-masses. For this range, you could just have several shortwaves that aren't phasing and create a mess. In this case, the main system is well agreed upon to be a highly anomalous, significant storm in California. I recall some of the areas worst winter storms also being a big problem for the West Coast. The pattern itself is interesting. But there's time to see how the thermals and frontal positions come together.
