What conditions do you need for a short or long ice age?

Above average clouds and precipitation
Below average temperatures.

This is basically what starts a short or long ice age.

From my point of view it might start with a year like this one where temperatures are about 15 degrees below average.

Next, you have above average clouds and precipitation from atmospheric rivers that appear to be never ending at this point from south of Hawaii.

Next, you have temperatures lowered by too many cloudy days and too much precipitation. Next, the temperatures are lower than normal from a polar vortex slip like we have experienced all across the U.S. this winter.

I'm not saying this is what we are looking at now at all. I'm just looking at what creates a short or long ice age.

In order to have a short (1 to 10 years) or long (1000s of years) ice age this precipitation has to be more consistent along with the lower temperatures.

But, what do we have right now in California for example?

We have snow in the Sierras and in the Cascades in mt. Shasta that likely will NOT melt off this year at all. So, climbers and skiers won't ever stop in 2019 using Crampons or Ice Axes and Skiers and Snowboarders likely will be able to ski or snow board with or without ski lifts straight through to at least this time next year.

And this is unusual (at least for the last 20 years or so since about 2000 since all the droughts).

And the other unusual thing here is that temperatures in Alaska have been consistently 15 or more degrees above normal. So, I guess my question would be:

"Is the polar temperature shift down into the lower 48 states more permanent this year than in past years?"

later: I talked later with a friend who is local to Mt. Shasta. I haven't been local and living here since 1992.

What he said about the snow was interesting. He said if this was the 1990s or 1980s or 1970s I would be right that the snow wouldn't melt off this year at all that much.

However, what he said now is that because of global warming that it is possible on a warm day to melt off 4 inches of snow in one day. If you do the calculations right even if there is 20  to 40 feet of snow at various places on the mountain, if you have enough days where it is melting 4 inches of snow because it is over 100 Fahrenheit down below in town, it is still possible that somewhere in August, September or October of 2019 that all the snow might melt off even in a really high snow El Nino year like this one.