I was there and don't remember that January storm at all. However I do remember there was a lot of snow already on the ground when the big one hit. So, the fresh 27 inches were falling on an already existing foot or so of snow and there was nowhere to put it.

Oh, and I couldn't find the April Fools Day blizzard (1996 or 1997?) on their chart at all, and that one was so bad MIT closed!