as Mag suggested, the warm flow out in front coupled w/ the notable qpf (as per 12z run), would be the death of many snowmen in the state prior to the frontal passage and what looked like something popping on it, and then we try to freshen up whatever snow is left on the backside. verbatim, yes west would do better, but if that storm goes poof, you'd likely see much less anafrontal snows. With it 7 days out, lots of different looks still likely.