Storm pummels New England, but spares New York and New Jersey

The blizzard that prompted dire warnings from Pennsylvania to Maine, shutting down subways and emptying streets, didn't live up to the hype in some of the more high-profile areas, largely sparing New York City and New Jersey on Monday night and Tuesday.

Although forecasters admitted that some of their predictions were off base, and residents grumbled about cities shutting down because officials overreacted, the storm did live up to the mark elsewhere.

Parts of New England were pummeled with more than two feet of snow and battering winds. Boston's subways and bus lines remained closed Tuesday as more than two feet of snow fell, according to the National Weather Service. Nantucket, Massachusetts, which recorded a 78-mph wind gust, was hit by an island-wide power outage. In some parts of Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, the snow easily topped 20 inches.

While travel bans were lifted in New York and New Jersey on Tuesday morning, mobility was severely restricted elsewhere. Amtrak canceled all trains north of New York, saying it would begin limited service Wednesday. Drivers in Connecticut were under a travel ban until Tuesday afternoon, while such orders lasted longer in Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts. In states that did not issue travel bans, officials urged drivers to stay home.

Thousands of flights were canceled as the storm neared, with more than 4,700 planned flights -- most of them heading through New York, Philadelphia and Boston -- scratched Tuesday and 2,800 canceled Monday.

Snow totals in New York and New Jersey were far from the forecasts that had caused officials to close the subways in New York City, suspend bus and train service in New Jersey and ban driving across many of the area's roads. Snowfall as tall as a toddler was predicted; instead, Central Park got 7.8 inches, and Hoboken, New Jersey, 7.5. Although the snowfall topped two feet on Long Island, the sense in New York was that of a city closed down with little to show for it.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended the choice to shut down New York's subways and ban driving in some counties, arguing that it is better to say the area was spared than to say "we didn't get lucky and somebody died."

Other officials echoed Cuomo in response to the questions and criticism. "I am always going to err on the side of caution," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "You can't be a Monday morning quarterback on something like the weather."

Forecasts had called for as much as 20 to 30 inches of snow in New York City and eastern New Jersey. Blizzard and winter storm warnings blanketed the Northeast on Monday, a day after the National Weather Service called the storm "potentially historic."

The National Weather Service in New York, in a statement posted on Facebook, said: "Rapidly deepening winter storms are very challenging to predict, specifically their track and how far west the heaviest bands will move."

Up to 14 inches of snow were forecast for Philadelphia, so a snow emergency was declared, schools closed and city offices shuttered. The city wound up with a little more than 2 inches of snow.

Gary Szatkowski, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service forecast station for Philadelphia, posted an apology to officials and the public on Twitter.

"You made a lot of tough decisions expecting us to get it right, and we didn't," he wrote. "Once again, I'm sorry."