I've seen some surprise winter storms...should maybe say surprise in how it played out, but none in my hometown. Snow was in the forecast but in all 3 cases, the total busted low. I had been saying I saw two surprises, but it was actually three considering part one in February 2014.
Christmas 2010: This is a case in which there isn't really any shame in missing. The possibility of a phase or no phase was going to change the potential total. I was in LaFayette, GA with my family, and the day before the storm, 1 inch of snow was forecast. Turns out the phase actually happened and we saw **1 inch of snow** by about 9 in the morning. Ended with 4 inches of snow.
1-28-14: Due to how dry and cold it was, I figured that even in a realistic case scenario in NW GA, it'd take a while for the atmosphere to moisturize enough and maybe once it did, I'd be able to see a dusting....nah. It started snowing earlier than I thought it would, and once it ended I had about 3-4 inches of pure powder due to higher than normal ratios.
2-11-14: As I remember, a rain/snow mix was predicted for part 1 with this winter storm. I switched to snow early in the morning and stayed snow for pretty much the rest of part 1. I think I got about 4 inches of snow from part 1. Ironically, part 1 busted low while part 2 busted high. FFC was throwing around some big snow totals (past significant for the south) as predictions for part 2 in north Georgia. I got much more freezing rain than I bargained for though with part 2 (did end with about 4-5" of snow).
Again, all three of these weren't in Augusta. 2011 and 2014 really feel like they kind of were flashback winters to the 70s-80s.