[forgottenpass]

Did you forget about the entire city of Philadelphia? 14 inches predicted, < 1 inch actual snowfall.

OK, but so what? This is about unpredictability, not over-estimation. If the unpredictability was better conveyed the best case scenario is still everyone preparing like they did for a storm that didn't hit. Worst case is suffering hardships due to underestimating the storm.

I'm a bit further northeast and it's coming down pretty hard outside my window right now. The preemptive cancellations really did avoid a lot of unsafe travel here. We have a bit more familiarity with the unpredictability of snowfall predictions, but it usually manifests as people saying: "It won't be that bad" and getting into trouble the few times it really is that bad.

It didn't hit the cities that aren't used to big snowfall. But those cities house a lot of national media, so now we get to listen their scorn for the next week.