FYI, 1997-98 was the last strong el nino.
If you want the snow summary of all the winters I can remember for central and northern Minnesota, my memory goes back to 1995-96.
Here it goes
1995-96 Very Cold, not a ton of snow but cold to keep it around.
1996-97 Not generally that cold but lots of snow. Grand Forks flooding
1997-98 Terrible
1998-99 Terrible
1999-00 Terrible, I remember hearing lawnmowers running the first week of March in central MN
2000-01 Good Winter. Above avg snow with below avg temps overall. January was warm but no big thaws.
2001-02 Terrible, lots of March snow that went to waste as it melted quickly
2002-03 Terrible
2003-04 Ok, but nothing that sticks in my mind
2004-05 Late start to winter, Feb and on was a roller coaster temp wise. MN north shore had an excellent year.
2005-06 Slow start then warmth until end of Jan, Feb and March were good the further north you were.
2006-07 Generally terrible, but did have two good storms end of Feb and beginning of March. Melted quickly afterwards though.
2007-08 Meh, it seemed good coming off of 06-07 but was still below average probably.
2008-09 Solidly good to very good snow year
2009-10 Late start, only a couple snowstorms all year, avg at best, overall. Southern MN got all the snow this year.
2010-11 Really good year better than 08-09, I was trail riding Dec 1 in 12"+.
2011-12 Terrible, year without a winter
2012-13 Was rivaling 11-12 for a non-winter until mid Jan, then it snowed, and snowed and snowed...
2013-14 Epic! Maybe even to cold to enjoy the excellent snow a few times.
2014-15 One step above Terrible? Better than 97-98 and 11-12 at least.