My memory from that decade is a little foggy, but I think that event for you guys in 1998 was on the heels of a similar event for us that same year (a few weeks earlier). Both events were cutoff lows. The one that hit the tricities area snowed 3 inches per hour for 7 straight hours and totaled 24-30 inches around Johnson City. Power was out for several days. I remember the population then being 55,000ish, and 50k were without power! I had a buddy in medical school at the time, living in a 500 sq foot, one bedroom apartment (with gas heat). There were over 25 people staying with him for 5-6 days. You would wake up and it would look like Jonestown the morning after with bodies just laying EVERYWHERE. Pretty crazy snowstorm.
The reason I remember your snow was the setup was almost identical to what we had just experienced and I thought we were going to get hammered again. As the event got closer, the models began to hone in on the exact track, which was just west of us (sparing us, and hitting you guys with 12-14 inches of heavy wet snow).
Great memories, even though the details are a bit fuzzy.