It is a matter of physics. Nothing has changed. The frequency of the Ku & Ka bands have a wavelength that interact with water molecules in the atmosphere. When enough water molecules are in place, the attenuation of the microwave energy is greater than the gain of the receptive antenna. A larger antenna would gather more signal. But with a large storm front, there simply is not enough signal getting thru; you would need a dish several meters across in size. There is also an electro-phenomenon with an approaching storm front, this combined with the water molecules is what causes the condition known as 'rain fade'. Here is an article:
[Link: en.wikipedia.org]

It should have been obvious to you back then. If a light rain storm was knocking out your signal constantly, then someone did a crappy job installing the dish. They did not have it peaked out. Any damage to the dish would also make it impossible to peak out.
We are talking millimeters here! I love it when people say "my dish is fine and they lined it up perfect. Satellite just sucks". BS! You can not even noticed when a dish is slightly 'out-of-round' and maybe causing problems. The antennas are made out of the thinnest metal imaginable these days, they damage very easily. And these stupid installers these days, throw them 1/2 assembled in the back of their vans getting knocked around all day. It is a wonder ANY of the f^ things work right.

Anyway. Point being = satellite signal does NOT get knocked out easily. It takes a pretty good storm front to cause problems (it does NOT have to be raining for this to occur). If someone is having rain fade issues all the time, then the dish is probably not peaked out. If the dish is peaked out, then high loss in the distribution system could be a problem. Or a defective dish could be the problem (again, seeing this more these days from the cheap dishes and stupid installers).