Blizzard

NYC Didn't See Storm Coming

Bad predictions explain poor cleanup.

Rumors are swirling as to why it took so long to get New York's streets plowed—including allegations in the New York Post that plow drivers did a poor job to protest budget cuts. While no one will know every factor until a post-storm investigation is completed, the best explanation appears to be that the city simply underestimated the storm's severity. City officials had been tracking the storm, but trusted weather forecasts underestimated the amount of snow. They opted not to declare a "snow emergency," which would have cleared 300 designated "snow emergency streets" of vehicles and made plowing faster. Only on Sunday, many hours after the heaviest snowfall, did the city begin calling in more MTA workers to deal with the inclement weather, too late to keep trains from stalling, buses from freezing in the streets, and subway passengers from being stranded in the cold. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who initially defended the city's response, has admitted that it was inadequate.