For us in EMA it was a 6 week stretch that gave a ton of snow. I remember the snow banks were unreal-wan't that the year of Kevin's manicured banks? It petered out in February but a front loaded winter like that to me is preferred.
Regarding your assertion of the pig-it's complicated. The pig in October relented. Many of the great winters had it in October and indeed some all winter-as long as we have enough poleward pointing of a ridge nearby to facilitate cold dumping. Models this year do not sure a pig in the long range yet. But as Will and others mentioned, NAO is pretty critical to our fortunes. Hey I think we have a +PDO now? That can help!
https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/ocean/sst/anomaly/index.html