I know exactly what you are talking about. It was early December 2000. I just kept looking at the radar waiting for the snow to cross the James River and it never did. Southern Suffolk, VA got about a foot and it was a sharp cutoff from there.
Early January 2018 was the greatest snowstorm I have experienced. It was frozen before the storm so everything stuck. Straight up blizzard in the Hampton Roads. I got 12-14 inches of snow. The low pressure system was equivelant to a cat 3. I feel we will never see that again.
If I'm wrong, I will admit it. We are tracking fringe fantasy storms 10-14 days out. We are desperate and I get it. But, it has always turned into rain the last 2 years. We need really cold air to make it down to these parts and I just don't see it.