I'm not in the Northeast, so can't really say whether they got THIS one right, but the local forecasters were pretty spot on for what we got, just a dusting or maybe a1/4 inch down here in the valley.
Technology has, imo, VASTLY improved our local forecasts, especially as they pertain to snow.
East TN is in a valley, between the Cumberland Mountains toward the west and the Smokies to the east. The Cumberlands can REALLY muck about with the accuracy of our forecasts here, because once a front hits the mountains, it becomes harder to predict. It may start to break up over the mountains and pretty much peter out before it ever gets as far as Knoxville, or it may break into pockets of really intense activity, meaning one area of Knoxville will get hit harder than another. I've seen times when we get six inches of snow in south Knoxville, where I am, and 12 miles down the road in West Knoxville, they get a dusting.
On the other hand, sometimes a system that is already kind of breaking up before it hits the Cumberlands will instead sort of "bunch up" and reform into something more intense than it was before.
And then there's the Smokies, which can sometimes cause a sort of "wrap around" effect on a storm for us here in the valley (especially those of us in south Knoxville, close to the mountains).
It's really a wonder they ever get it right at all here!
