In the wild world of winter weather, location is everything.

So small last minute changes in the air morphed what was supposed to be crippling feet of snow into a handful of inches, leading forecasters to apologize, politicians to explain themselves and some Northeast residents wondering where the much-hyped snow went.

The not-so-great blizzard of 2015 did wallop the Northeast: Long Island and Massachusetts got hammered with more than two feet of snow.

But snowfall in the self-absorbed media capital of New York City, shut down in advance, was under a foot. New Jersey and Philadelphia also were spared.

Meteorologists say the nor'easter stayed about 75 to 100 miles east of its predicted track, which meant the western edge - New York and New Jersey - got 10 inches less than forecast.

"That miss occurred in the most populous corridor in the nation," said David Robinson, director of the Rutgers Global Snow Lab and New Jersey's state climatologist. "Had it been between Albany and Syracuse, not to disparage them, no one would have made much of this."

The region girded for something historic or epic but got much less.

"I expected tons of snow," New York cabaret singer Susanne Payot said, walking through Central Park with her home-from-school daughters and their golden retriever, Alvin. "This is nothing. I don't understand why the whole city shut down because of this."

Services shut down in advance

Before heavy snows began falling, officials shut down roads and public transportation across in New York City, in New Jersey and on Long Island. Amtrak suspended train service and air traffic slowed to a stop. Schools along the East Coast on Monday canceled Tuesday classes.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie defended his decision to ban travel on all state roads.

"I was being told as late as 9 o'clock last night that we were looking at 20-inch accumulations in most of New Jersey. If, in fact, that is what would have happened, having these types of things in effect were absolutely the right decision to make," Christie told WABC-TV. "We were acting based on what we were being told."

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was criticized for under-reacting to the November mega storm in Buffalo, so he worked "on the theory of living learned and a little wiser."

Irwin Redlener, the director of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness and an unpaid adviser to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, said Tuesday that the way the region came to a halt ahead of the storm was good practice.

"It's not whether the city should have prepared so much, it's how people respond," Redlener said. "We don't want the population to get so cynical that they're not heeding the warnings."

A National Weather Service forecaster who was called a hero of 2012's Superstorm Sandy tweeted an apology for the errant forecast.

"You made a lot of tough decisions expecting us to get it right, and we didn't. Once again, I'm sorry," wrote Gary Szatkowski, a National Weather Service forecaster in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

Storm track difficult to predict

The storm spun up in the ocean, where there are few monitors to help meteorologists and computer models pinpoint the track, forecasters said. In such a storm, an error of 50 miles "can be a big difference," said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private service Weather Underground.

Late Monday, the computer models started to move the storm more east and away from New York City, but by that time "media and social media hype was out of the bottle," said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

The European computer model that was praised for accurately forecasting Superstorm Sandy failed more than others, Masters said.

Meteorologists defended the forecast - to a point.

"It's just that we didn't get the western edge of the forecast correct. If you want to call that a bust, I think you're being a little harsh," Masters said.

Robinson, Shepherd and others said meteorologists probably erred more in the way they relayed the forecast to the public than the prediction itself.

"In reality, nothing went wrong, the models were always iffy in NYC area," Shepherd said in an email. "We just have to do a better job of communicating the story."

Not good enough, said some unhappy commuters waiting for the first PATH trains to leave Jersey City for New York on Tuesday.

Vikram Kanagala, 33, who works in finance and was among those who arrived at the station before the security gates lifted, said he was frustrated by officials' response.

"Definitely unacceptable," he said. "I think they should have done a better job with real-world decisions."

Brandon Bhajan, a security guard in New York City, wasn't upset. "I don't think they (city) overblew it," he said. "I think it's like the situation with Ebola ... if you over-cover, people are ready and prepared."

On The Weather Channel, storm chaser Reed Timmer expressed frustration that he was stuck in New York City. He noted that the network began adjusting its New York forecast downward on Monday evening, but he didn't want to believe it.

"I was in denial," he said.In the wild world of winter weather, location is everything. So small last minute changes in the air morphed what was supposed to be crippling feet of snow into a handful of inches, leading forecasters to apologize, politicians to explain themselves and some Northeast residents wondering where the much-hyped snow went.

The not-so-great blizzard of 2015 did wallop the Northeast: Long Island and Massachusetts got hammered with more than two feet of snow.

But snowfall in the self-absorbed media capital of New York City, shut down in advance, was under a foot. New Jersey and Philadelphia also were spared.

10 inches less snow than forecast

Meteorologists say the nor'easter stayed about 75 to 100 miles east of its predicted track, which meant the western edge - New York and New Jersey - got 10 inches less than forecast.

"That miss occurred in the most populous corridor in the nation," said David Robinson, director of the Rutgers Global Snow Lab and New Jersey's state climatologist. "Had it been between Albany and Syracuse, not to disparage them, no one would have made much of this."

The region girded for something historic or epic but got much less.

"I expected tons of snow," New York cabaret singer Susanne Payot said, walking through Central Park with her home-from-school daughters and their golden retriever, Alvin. "This is nothing. I don't understand why the whole city shut down because of this."

Before heavy snows began falling, officials shut down roads and public transportation across in New York City, in New Jersey and on Long Island. Amtrak suspended train service and air traffic slowed to a stop. Schools along the East Coast on Monday canceled Tuesday classes.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie defended his decision to ban travel on all state roads.

"I was being told as late as 9 o'clock last night that we were looking at 20-inch accumulations in most of New Jersey. If, in fact, that is what would have happened, having these types of things in effect were absolutely the right decision to make," Christie told WABC-TV. "We were acting based on what we were being told."

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was criticized for under-reacting to the November mega storm in Buffalo, so he worked "on the theory of living learned and a little wiser."

Irwin Redlener, the director of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness and an unpaid adviser to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, said Tuesday that the way the region came to a halt ahead of the storm was good practice.

"It's not whether the city should have prepared so much, it's how people respond," Redlener said. "We don't want the population to get so cynical that they're not heeding the warnings."

A National Weather Service forecaster who was called a hero of 2012's Superstorm Sandy tweeted an apology for the errant forecast.

"You made a lot of tough decisions expecting us to get it right, and we didn't. Once again, I'm sorry," wrote Gary Szatkowski, a National Weather Service forecaster in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

The storm spun up in the ocean, where there are few monitors to help meteorologists and computer models pinpoint the track, forecasters said. In such a storm, an error of 50 miles "can be a big difference," said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private service Weather Underground.

Late Monday, the computer models started to move the storm more east and away from New York City, but by that time "media and social media hype was out of the bottle," said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

The European computer model that was praised for accurately forecasting Superstorm Sandy failed more than others, Masters said.

Meteorologists defended the forecast - to a point.

"It's just that we didn't get the western edge of the forecast correct. If you want to call that a bust, I think you're being a little harsh," Masters said.

Robinson, Shepherd and others said meteorologists probably erred more in the way they relayed the forecast to the public than the prediction itself.

"In reality, nothing went wrong, the models were always iffy in NYC area," Shepherd said in an email. "We just have to do a better job of communicating the story."

Not good enough, said some unhappy commuters waiting for the first PATH trains to leave Jersey City for New York on Tuesday.

Vikram Kanagala, 33, who works in finance and was among those who arrived at the station before the security gates lifted, said he was frustrated by officials' response.

"Definitely unacceptable," he said. "I think they should have done a better job with real-world decisions."

Brandon Bhajan, a security guard in New York City, wasn't upset. "I don't think they (city) overblew it," he said. "I think it's like the situation with Ebola ... if you over-cover, people are ready and prepared."

On The Weather Channel, storm chaser Reed Timmer expressed frustration that he was stuck in New York City. He noted that the network began adjusting its New York forecast downward on Monday evening, but he didn't want to believe it.

"I was in denial," he said.