You have been driving an AWD car and are spoiled by it’s superior performance. Did you find it met your needs ? You can function in snow country without AWD with snows, but your options are severely limited. Pre plowed/salted roads in hilly upstate are much more treacherous and you may be advised to stay home and restrict travel with 2wd. These are the considerations my relatives who live there face; some with AWD, some without. AWD/4wd with good winter tires affords more freedom of choice than 2wd.
I vote Forester/CRV/RAV in AWD. Consider added effective ground clearance that some makes have over the Subaru (poor approach angle) if deeper snow is an important consideration and equip as VDCdriver advises.
BTW, global warming hype doesn’t imply everyone will get warmer. Higher snow levels in some areas may actually result from this phenom with a change in weather patterns. So in agreement, it should not be a consideration.
Part time 4wd is better in really deep snow (worse on ice), but new RAVs and maybe ( Pilot for sure) CRVs (?) have locking feature to give you this type of performance.