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Blizzard-stricken East digs out amid forecast 2nd-guessing

A worker uses a front-end loader to clear snow adjacent to Faneuil Hall, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015, in Boston. Massachusetts was pounded by snow and lashed by strong winds early Tuesday as bands of heavy snow left some towns including Sandwich on Cape Cod and Oxford in central Massachusetts reporting more than 18 inches of snow. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) A worker uses a front-end loader to clear snow adjacent to Faneuil Hall, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015, in Boston. Massachusetts was pounded by snow and lashed by strong winds early Tuesday as bands of heavy snow left some towns including Sandwich on Cape Cod and Oxford in central Massachusetts reporting more than 18 inches of snow. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By Associated Press January 28, 2015 1 min read

BOSTON (AP) – New Englanders savaged by a blizzard packing knee-high snowfall and hurricane-force winds are digging out as New Yorkers and others spared its full fury question whether forecasts were overblown.

The storm buried the Boston area in more than 2 feet of snow and lashed it with howling winds that exceeded 70 mph. While Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey had been warned they could get 1 to 2 feet of snow, New York City received just under 10 inches and Philadelphia a mere inch or so. New Jersey got up to 10 inches.

The glancing blow left forecasters apologizing and politicians defending their near-total shutdown on travel.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defended their travel bans.