I think it's likely there have been years like this one, but we notice it particularly this year because:
a) There are more backcountry skiers to notice these things now.
b) Lift skiing isn't the attractive alternative it used to be.
I've been backcountry skiing since the late 1970s, but for most of those years I did most of my mid-winter skiing on the lifts. Backcountry skiing was mainly a spring activity for me. That's still true, to some extent, but in recent years lift skiing has become less appealing because of increased crowding. With COVID-19 crowd restrictions, it's even more severe this year. I've been getting out quite a bit this year, but it's been almost entirely XC skiing with my partner and uphill skinning sessions by myself at a convenient ski area.
The various patterns we've seen this year--heavy rains, cold snaps, epic dumps--aren't by any means unusual. But having them all in sequence is noteworthy, if not really surprising. I recall that the epic snow year of 1999 was predicted by some to have massive avalanche problems, but it didn't really happen because the snowfall and temperature regime was relatively consistent through the winter. So we just ended up with a huge snowpack without many discontinuities in it.
