Sorry Jack, didn't see your post at first.
What causes this fat winter weather, Andy. In Sweden we broke records in snow accumulation this season. And it's still going now even if a bit got melt.
It's all about climatological teleconnections, which are patterns of different climate anomalies over a large scale of the Earth. One that has major bearing on Europe is the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation). That specific teleconnection has to do with pressure differences in the upper atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean that drives the sort of weather that is seen in the Eastern US and Europe. Other climatological patterns like ENSO (sea water temperatures in the Pacific) have bearing on how pressure and hence temperature is distributed across the entire world.
When all of these teleconnections and other climatological patterns line up correctly, a rare event, you can get these harsh winters like we have seen here in the US and up your way. Right now we have positive ENSO and slightly positive NAO, and that drives colder temps in our areas and at times more storms.